


A Very Merry Secret Santa

by freerangegranola



Series: Holidays & Winter Days [1]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: F/F, F/M, Herc and Pegs possibly???, I realize it is January now but yippee secret santa fic, I'll probably make a series out of this particular story, Lams - Freeform, M/M, Marliza, TheoBurr later on, Washette - Freeform, holiday friend group love, jeffmads - Freeform, woops this is too late for the holiday season but oh well, wow this is so much longer than I meant it to beeee woops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-02-01
Packaged: 2018-09-15 10:19:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 20,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9230627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/freerangegranola/pseuds/freerangegranola
Summary: The Hamsquad is dealing with the struggles of being a group of broke college kids, and subsequently not being able to buy the perfect presents for everyone in their groups. So, of course Hamilton has the solution. How to ensure that everyone in the group gets a meaningful and thought out gift? Secret Santa with the  whole group!! God only knows who will end up with what.*I know this is like 3 weeks too late but I wasn't writing fanfics during Christmastime yet so wooopsss*





	1. The Secret Santa Suggestion

**Author's Note:**

> I know this is after Christmastime, but I wasn't writing fics yet then, and I definitely don't want to wait a year to write this! This will be a multi-chapter fic looking into how the Secret Santa game affects our favorite group! :D If you have and feedback, suggestions for gifts to certain characters, or anything else, I would love to hear it!! I love reading any of the comments y'all leave, they make my day! Thank you for reading!! :D

When Alex first came to Columbia (on his full ride scholarship), he wasn’t really planning on making friends, much less forming and maintaining lifelong relationships. So it came as a big surprise to Alex when he found himself in the middle of an amazing mismatched family that consisted of all of his new friends. Even more shocking to Alex was that they all seemed to genuinely care for him, care for his well being, and even cared about any other significant aspect in his life. Perhaps more surprising to Alex was the fact that he cared just as strongly for the rest of them. He would do anything for any part of his new family. Which is what they were. Alex finally had a family- at least, for the first time since he was twelve and his mother died.

 

~~~

 

Everyone important in Alexander’s life seemed to come from money- or at least, came from more money than him. To be fair, that _wasn’t_ a truly difficult feat to accomplish, but the point still stood that Alexander felt out of place at times with his group of friends.

Perhaps, however, the most interesting facet about this rag tag group were the enormous differences that were exhibited in the makeshift family, and the love that still prevailed over them all.

The Schuyler sisters all came from a _very_ wealthy family, as their father was a successful senator. John Laurens, Alexander’s boyfriend, came from a very similar financial background. Although John’s current relationship with his father (and by extension the rest of his family) was strained at best, he still was accustomed to and grew up in a very financially fortunate environment.

Lafayette, as the Marquis de Lafayette, was even more so fortunate, and had no want that had a need to be filled.

George Washington, Alexander’s constitutional law T.A. Lafayette’s boyfriend, and one of Alex’s best friends was a product of an ‘old money’ Virginian family.

Hercules Mulligan was perhaps the only friend in Alexander’s group who didn’t come from exorbitant amounts of money. Instead, Hercules’ family was a comfortable American-middle class one. Still, the luxuries he had been afforded and were accustomed to growing up were some that Alex would dream of on Nevis.

Even the few people who seemed to be moreso of outliers in Alexander’s life (and in one instance, the bane of his existence), were all fairly well off.

Thomas Jefferson was also a child of an “old money” virginian family, as was his boyfriend James Madison. Aaron Burr, in contrast, was more in line with Hercules’ financial upbringing, but still financially stable.

With all of this being said, however, Alexander didn’t let his impoverished upbringing stand in the way of his newfound family by creating disparities or jealousy in his friends’ lives.

  
~~~

 

  
Even with his friends coming from these backgrounds of financial supremacy, none of them were spared of the curse of being a Broke College Kid. So, when the holiday season rolled around, an idea was hatched by none other than Alexander Hamilton after hearing his friends’ continuous complaints on their parents either not providing them with sufficient money to spend on christmas presents, or the fact that their part-time jobs on campus had no way of supplying them with money to buy gifts for everyone in their large friend group.        

Alexander brought up his idea on night when everyone in the tight-knit group was gathered at George’s nicely-sized off-campus house he shared with his boyfriend, Lafayette. Oh, the perks of being an Ivy-League T.A.

“It just seriously stinks, y’know? Like, y’all are my family, and I wish I could buy the presents I want to get for everyone. Being a broke college kid sucks, man.” John pouted as Alex gave off a derisive snort from where his head was positioned  on John’s lap.

“Gosh, being broke must _really_ suck!” Teased Alex, earning a slight hit on the head from John.

“Shut up, Lex. You know what I meant.”

“Like, I know that Christmas isn’t just about presents, and that really isn’t the point, but it just stinks because I love all of you guys so much and I wish I had the money to buy you all the presents you deserve!” Eliza groaned, upset with the continuation of the group's’ earlier conversation about the prospect of not having the proper funds to buy gifts for their loved ones this year. It was an entirely new experience for her, to not be able to give to the extent she wanted to.

“I have an idea.” Alex leaned up, off of John.

“For what?” John asked, curious as to what was so important as to have made his boyfriend move from his favorite lounging position.

“What to do for the Christmas predicament everyone is in!”

At that, more of the group became interested in the conversation that most had only been half-way partaking in.

“Ok! What is it?” Peggy asked excitedly- Christmas time was her favorite time of year, and she loved the idea of spreading the joy in any way possible.

“Why not do a secret santa? I saw the idea on one of those cheesy Hallmark movies John always makes me watch-”

“Hey! Those aren’t cheesy! Besides, I _definitely_  wasn’t the one who ended up cryin-”

“ _Anyways_ ,” loudly interrupted Alex, not particularly wanting that story told at this moment in time. “We put everyone’s names into a hat, each draw one, and then we only have to buy for one person. I mean, I know it isn’t quite the same, because we all want to give each other the best presents possible, but considering we are all pretty much broke college kids- which, honestly, kind of makes me feel slightly less out of place with you guys, but that’s besides the point. Where was I? Oh! So like I was saying, we can set a spending limit and then we can really focus on one person so everyone will end up getting a really thoughtful gift and it’ll hopefully be more meaningful like that. I mean if you guys don’t want to, we obviously don’t have to, I mean it might’ve been a stupid idea, but-”

“Alex!” interrupted Angelica. She was well versed in ending his rants, or rather, ramblings, and sensed that he would continue on this topic until he was stopped forcibly. He especially needed to stop as he was heading into the self-conscious portion of his speeches, where his thoughts were immediately verbalized, and gave way to the internal monologue that his friends would never want to use whatever idea he had conjured, or that he wasn’t meant to be with them, or whatever struck his subconscious’ fancy that day.

“Sorry, yeah?” Alex stopped abruptly, his expression slightly shocked, as if his brain hadn’t yet communicated to his face that the rambling was about the stop.

“I think that’s a lovely idea, and I think everyone else does too.”  As Angelica smiled towards  Alexander, she also looked around the room for feedback. Most of the group was excitedly nodding, or providing their affirmations in some other way. John squeezed Alex’s hand. Eliza let out a slight squeal that might have been a “yes!”, but that was truly up for debate.

“Let’s do it now, mes amies!” Smiled Lafayette, jumping off of George’s lap, where the couple had been resting on the recliner in the corner. The frenchmen jubilantly rushed out of the room, to return in a only few short moments with an honest-to-god top hat, a notebook, and a pen.

“Where on earth did you get a top hat in 30 seconds?!” Asked an incredulous Hercules.

“I have my ways, Hercules.” Shot back Laf, winking at the fashion-design major. “Ok,  so I would write everyone’s names down, but as some people here think my handwriting is _sloppy_ ,” at this, Laf turned around and glared at George who held up his hands, not wanting to resume an argument that the couple had apparently partaken in one too many times. “I suppose I shouldn’t write them. Who would like to?”

“I can do it, Gilbert.” Angelica stood and gave Lafayette a grin before taking the notebook into her hands, with the pen balancing on top of it as she returned to her seat. “Okeydoke, so just raise your hand and I’ll say your name when I’ve written it to make sure I don’t exclude anyone.”

Everyone’s hands shot up enthusiastically, awaiting their names to be scrawled onto the paper.

“Okay… Herc, I have you. John...Alex...Laf. George, I got you. Pegs and Liz I got you both. I’ll put my name in… is that everyone?” Angelica looked up from her writing to see no more hands were raised in the room, and nodded in affirmation to her own question.

“Wait!” Peggy interrupted as Angelica had begun to tear the sheet on which she had just written on into slips, separating each person’s name from the others.

“What is it Peggy?” asked Hercules, looking at her inquisitively, somewhat surprised at the outburst from the typically quietist Schuyler sister.

“Should we include James, Aaron, and Jefferson?” Peggy looked straight at Angelica, not wanting to see the surefire looks of either apprehension or disgust gracing Alexander’s, and possibly some of the other’s faces.

“Ugh, do we seriously have to? Jefferson will probably just give whoever he pulls a calendar with pictures of Monticello and then an autobiography I’m sure he’s already written.” Groaned Alexander. “I really didn’t mind the other two, I mean, Madison and I worked together a lot last semester on that huge essay. And, sure, I even consider Aaron a friend. But really, _Jefferson_?”

George snorted quietly at Alexander’s outburst. He wasn’t a big fan of Thomas’ either, but he wasn’t really able to express that sentiment as Jefferson was also a student in the class the teacher-assisted for.

“He _has_ gotten better since he started dating James, and it _is_ all in the spirit of Christmas, right?” Peggy turned a pleading face to Alexander, and then to the other men in the group when Alex looked away, in hopes to not have to endure Peggy’s puppy-dog stare and remain in his resolve.

“It really isn’t the holiday spirit to exclude someone so blatantly. Madison did invite us to his birthday, and all of them have even come to some of our movie nights lately. They’d find out if we didn’t include them...” Eliza trailed off, awaiting another outburst from Alex. When she didn’t immediately get one, she looked over at him, surprised.

“...Yeah. I guess that’s the Christmassy thing to do.” He gave Peggy a weak smile, obviously restraining from adding another smart ass comment.

_Perhaps the Christmas spirit can even affect Alex,_ smiled Hercules, thinking to himself. Alex was by no means a Scrooge and definitely not a selfish person, but once you made his enemies list, it was a near-impossible task to be removed from it.

“So it’s settled!” Angelica beamed as she finished tearing the paper into the strips, having added the three new names. She quickly folded them all in half, throwing them into the top hat.

“Should we wait to draw names until the three guys can get here?” George asked, wanting the chances for drawing certain names to remain equal.

“Yeah, I guess we should actually invite them and let them know what’s happening!” Laughed John.

~~~

After having all watched two episodes of Tiny House Hunters together and eaten the much-too-greasy pizza they had delivered, there was a knock on the door.

“Can you please let us in? It’s freezing out here!” Jefferson yelled through the door. Alex smirked at the comment, but stayed silent.

George tapped Lafayette’s leg, signalling that he needed to get off of his lap so George could go and answer the door. Lafayette gave him a quick kiss when he got up, then flopped back down into the large recliner.

“Hey, guys.” Greeted George, leading the three men in from the front hallway to the living room where the rest of the group was.

“So, what’s up? Peggy texted me while we were in Poli-Sci, and said you guys had and idea you wanted us to partake in?” Aaron smiled at Peggy, and then turned his inquisitive smile to the rest if the group.

“As it is officially December, it is also officially Christmastime!” Eliza beamed at the group, motioning for the three men to find seats somewhere in the room.

“Okay, so?” Jefferson sniped, as he sat on the hardwood floor.

“Sooo, we wanted to know if you three would like to partake in our Secret Santa exchange?” Angelica cut off any retort Alex was about to give to the rude Virginian.

“I’d love to!” James smiled at Angelica, thanking her including them.

“Me as well, thank you.” Burr grinned at Angelica as well.

James and Aaron side-eyed Thomas, who put on a slightly pained-looking smile and also  offered his confirmations for wanting to participate.

“Awesome! In that case we can start drawing names!” Eliza grinned excitedly as Hercules whooped in response.

“Okay, who wants to draw first?”

 


	2. The Drawing Commences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three things!!  
> 1) So I realized as I began to write the pairings up for this chapter that I had an odd number of characters (woooopppssss). SO I’ve had one of the characters address it here and hopefully it all is sorted properly!  
> 2) I know this is a teeny tiny chapter, but I wanted to update this story quickly, and figure out the direction I'm going to take it in. Possibly just go from here to the gift exchanges and make it just three chapters? Or I may include some of the characters shopping for the gifts for each other. I'm already planning on doing a one-shot based off of one of the gifts, but that'll be after this is finished.  
> 3) All of the pairings for the exchange are at the bottom! I hope you guys enjoy this, despite it's length. If you have any suggestions as to what certain gifts should be, or any other feedback, it always makes my day to read them and I'd love to hear from y'all!  
> Thank you!!! :D

~~~

_“Awesome! In that case we can start drawing names!” Eliza grinned excitedly as Hercules whooped in response._

_“Okay, who want to draw first?”_

~~~

“I can go!” Peggy beamed, jumping out of her seat and meeting Angelica half way to grab the top hat.

“Okay- and as a general rule you guys, don’t tell _anyone_ who you get! That way it’s all a real surprise!” Smiled Angelica, as she handed Peggy the hat. “Yes, I mean you too, John and Alex. You’re not exempt either.” Angelica noticed the look the two had given each other, which prompted a stuck-out tongue from Alex at the comment

“Ooh! This is a good one!” Laughed Peggy, quickly stuffing the name into her pocket, and passing the hat off to Eliza who sat next to her.

Eliza took the hat with an inquisitive look on her face, staring at it and mouthing quietly.  
“‘Liza?” Alexander looked at her questioning; he always was paying keen attention to Eliza, as she was one the _the_ most important people in his life.

“Eleven!” Eliza responded, looking somewhat triumphant, moving her gaze to match Alex’s.

“Eleven what, Eliza?” George was also taken aback by the strange behaviour from the middle Schuyler sister.

“We have eleven people participating in Secret Santa! That’s an odd number, that won’t work. We need an extra person so everyone gets someone without a person being left out!”

“Oh! I can’t believe we didn’t notice that sooner!” John said, shocked.

“I should’ve noticed when I was writing everyone’s names down, I’m sorry everyone!” apologized Angelica, equally surprised she hadn’t caught the mistake.

“Well, we don’t want anyone to be left out, that’s for sure. Who do we add in?” questioned Hercules, scanning the room as if a new friend would pop out of nowhere.

“Eliza? You and Ms. Reynolds have become close, _non?_ ” Lafayette turned an appraising eye towards Eliza who began to blush slightly at the mention of Maria.

“No! I mean, yes. Yes, we’re really good friends. I just- she’s going home for the break I think? Yeah, I think she’s maybe going home.” Eliza rushed out, obviously uncomfortable with the conversation.

“Well, why don’t you check, Betsey? I’ve seen her around campus a few times and she seems pretty nice. Haven’t really talked to her before, but if you and her are becoming good friends we’re bound to meet her anyways?” Alex plowed through, characteristically oblivious to the discomfort facing Eliza.

“Oh! I know her- I think he boyfriend James is in on of my classes? She’s come in a few times, you should give her a call Eliza.” Jefferson spoke up, facing towards the still-flushed Schuyler.

“First off that’s her _ex-_ boyfriend. Rightfully so too, that’s the biggest jackass I’ve ever met. Secondly, yeah I can text her really quick and see.” As Eliza whipped out her phone, situating the hat on her lap, the others in the room shared a series of quick glances. It was unusual for Eliza to curse, and even stranger for the curse word to be used to describe a person. Equally as strange was the ferocity she used to emphasize the “ex” part of Maria’s relationship with James Reynolds.

“What was that?” mouthed Alex silently to Angelica.

Angelica gave an exaggerated shrug back, turning to the others in turn, who all shook their heads in confirmation they had no idea either.

A sigh from Eliza got their attention from the silent conversation that had erupted. “She said she’ll be back on the 23rd, but she’s in class right now and can’t really draw a name. Also she’s worried since she doesn’t know you guys yet.”

“That’s ok!” Peggy smiled, already having thought of a solution. “Tell her firstly we’d love to have her join. Secondly the date she’s coming back is fine, and thirdly after you draw a name just draw one for her and don’t look at it and just give it to her when you see her tomorrow!”

“...Yeah, ok.” Eliza looked as if she wanted to argue, to get the topic of Maria away from the group’s focus, but just nodded and reached into the hat, grabbing to slips, pocketing one and reading the other with a blank expression, trying not to give anything away.

Turning to give Aaron the hat, she smiled at him, the tension having already faded from her features.  
“Thank you.” He smiled at her, taking the hat, quickly pulling a name, and passing it on.

~~~

 

“Um- what do I do if I picked my own name?” John questioned to the group, looking up from the name he had pulled.

Lafayette chuckled at the question. “Only you, Laurens, only you!”

“Hey! It could’ve happened to anyone, statistically speaking.” John argued

“You, my dear, have been spending too much time with Alexander if you're speaking with statistics in mind. Just fold it back up and draw again.” Angelica smiled at him, deciding to be the voice of reason, as some of the other participants who had already drawn their names were playing idly on their phones, or striking up conversations with those next to them.

~~~

Once the arduous process of going through and picking the names had come to a close, it was getting fairly late. As Lafayette let off a particularly large (and somehow still french-sounding yawn) George looked at his boyfriend, then to the group.

“Ok- let’s set the spending limit and any other rules since it’s getting late.” Yawned George, rubbing Lafayette’s shoulders as the Frenchmen leaned into George’s body, tucking his head into George’s shoulder.

“How much do you guys think? I’m broke as hell right now, because apparently design students aren’t seen as good hires by the on-campus stores for some reason, so I’m working as bottom-rung as you can get.” Piped up Hercules, hoping that the group didn’t pick a high price point for them to aspire to.

“How’s $35.00?” Asked Aaron.

“Sounds good to me!”  
“Seems fair.”

"Oui."

After the slew of either verbalized responses of affirmation, or the more subdued nodding, the group sat their tiredly and dreary eyed. That is until George gave a gentle hint that it was time for everyone to leave his apartment. "It's getting kind of late, guys. Listen, you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here!" He laughed, motioning good-naturedly to the door, earning a few tired chuckles in response.

Everyone said their “good night”s, beginning to drift off, either to their own apartments or, in the case of Jefferson, James, Aaron, and the interesting addition of Hercules, to the south-campus bar.

"Which is by far the closest alcohol-dealing establishment to here." Told Jefferson to the group as they departed, earning an enthusiastic "Hell yeah!" from Hercules.

“I’ll start a group chat tonight!” Peggy said excitedly, as her and her sisters left the apartment, walking behind the bar going group.

George turned to John and Alex who were still on the couch as the door shut behind the majority of his guests. Speaking over Lafayette’s now asleep form, he said quietly to Alex, “Son, do you need me to call you guys an uber? Or do you need to crash here in the spare room? I know it’s a ways back to your apartments.”

John smiled appreciatively at George, speaking for the pair as Alex had just rested his head on John and let his eyes slip shut. “It’s ok George, but thank you anyways. We’ll just go back to my place since it’s closest. I think the campus shuttles are still going so we’ll hopefully catch the one heading east and then just walk the rest of the way.”

“Are you sure? It is pretty late, and the nightlife on the east side of campus can get a little...shall I say, rowdy?”

John looked down at Alex who had his head rested on John’s shoulder, half-asleep. Alex would continue refusing profusely if he was fully awake, never one to take handouts. Especially not from George, who Alex saw as the older brother, and (he would never admit this part) but the male role model he had never had. Yes, he _had_ had an older brother, but George was the kind of man he would have dreamed of being able to grow up under.

“Y’know what, yeah if you don’t mind." Conceded John, caving in. It would be safer for them to just go straight home rather than trying to deal with the drunk idiots on east campus. "I can pay you for the Uber but I don’t have the app on my phone, and it is pretty late-”

“It’s fine John, really. Consider it on the way.”  
“Thanks, George.”

In lieu of a topical response, George grinned and asked instead “So? Whose name did you draw?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's who drew who! :D  
> Peggy has Herc, Eliza has Aaron, Aaron has Peggy, Herc has Laf, Laf has Alex, Alex has Jefferson, Jeff has Maria, Maria has Eliza, Angie has John, John has George, George has Jmads, and Jmads has Angie!  
> So there we go! Like I said before, if you guys have any gift-suggestions, or other feedback, I love being able to read them!  
> Thank you so much for reading!! :D


	3. Washette Goes Shopping

  
  
  


Lafayette and George were holding hands, walking through the entrance of the mall.

“Okay- so I know we can’t tell each other who we have-” started George, before being interrupted by his boyfriend

“ _ Non, mon chou,  _ we are perfectly capable of telling each other who we pulled, you just refuse to bend the rules. You’re a- how do you say? Fuddy duddy.” Lafayette teased. He had tried multiple times to get Washington to let him know whose name he pulled, but to no avail.

“Oh, shut up you damn baguette.” George laughed at his boyfriend, smiling serenely over at him, earning a sly smile in response. “How do you say? fuddy duddy” He mocked in a faux French accent. Lafayette just rolled his eyes in response, tugging on his boyfriend’s hand to pull him in the direction of the escalator.

~~~

“Oh god, I’m going to get a headache from all these smells!” Groaned George, visibly recoiling at the onslaught of scent as the pair entered the super-sized Bath and Body Works. “Oh, shush George, we won’t be in here too long.” Lafayette let go of George’s hand as he said this, moving through the small swarm of women who were crowded around the clearance bins. George attempted to follow, but he started sneezing in reaction to the mingling of contrasting scents.

“Babe, I’m seriously just going to wait outside!” He called after Lafayette’s retreating form, sneezing in the middle of his proclamation. Getting a waved hand in response, indicating he had been heard, Lafayette went deeper into the store. 

~~~

“Excusez-moi, excusez-moi.” muttered Lafayette, weaving in between the large throng of women who were crowding around the clearance section. Lafayette went directly to the large shelves of full sized scents. Picking up a few of the testers and sniffing appraisingly, he began crossing certain scents off of his mental list. 

Alex and Lafayette had become very quick friends, both being immigrants, both speaking French. They had fit together perfectly, at this point being integral parts of each other’s lives. They had classes together almost daily, and when they weren’t in contact with each other for more than a few hours, there was either fast-paced phone calls in French to ensure some sort of daily interaction, or texts throughout the long days of school. Lafayette and Alex were essentially brothers at this point, and Lafayette felt so blessed to have the small islander in his life.

While they shared many similarities, there was also some striking differences. The most blatant difference was their upbringing. While being rich  _ and _ French, Lafayette was afforded certain luxuries that Alex thought were insane to waste money on. The one that Lafayette was most shocked by, however, was something that the Frenchman had discovered after sleeping at Alex’s one night, very near the start of their close friendship.

_ ~~~ _

_ Lafayette leaned into the shower, turning the knobs around, deciding to let the warm water get to the right temperature before jumping in. He looked around the small shower, though, and left the bathroom with a confused expression. _

_ “Mon petit lion?” Lafayette called into the small apartment, wrapping the towel around his waist. _

_ “Yeah?” Came Alex’s reply, most likely in his room working on an essay. _

_ “Where is the soap? Last time I slept over I  just went home to shower, and the time before that I brought my own." _

_ “Uh- it should be on the shelf  in there? In the shower? Is it not?" Alex’s voice grew louder as he appeared before Lafayette, a confused expression on his face. _

_ “Non, there is only a green soap bar?” _

_ Alex’s brows furrowed together, deepening his confused expression. “...Yeah? Lafayette, that’s the soap I use.” _

_ “What?! But, that is for hands in a restaurant restroom! It doesn’t even have a nice scent to it!” Lafayette was shocked at this declaration. _

_ “Well, that’s what I’ve always used, even back home in Nevis. Just bar soap, so, sorry. It’s not like we had the money to buy any of the fancy shit.” Alexander had a blush creeping up his face, either from anger or embarrassment. Lafayette immediately felt bad, but was still somewhat unbelieving. _

_ “Oh- I apologize, Alex. I didn’t know; I will use the soap bar, it is tout bon.” Lafayette quickly started walking back to the bathroom, remembering the water was still running. _

_ “Laf.” Alexander starter wearily, looking slightly less flushed. _

_ “Oui, mon ami?” _

_ “It’s just called bar soap. Not soap bar. It’s an English thing.” _

_ “Thank you Alexander.” Lafayette cataloged the information away, turning again to the bathroom.  _

_ After having washed with the bar of soap he felt almost less clean than when he jumped in. The soap had left a residue that Lafayette wasn’t used to with his shower gels, and there was no comforting scent that lingered on his skin. He also spied a 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioner combo in the shower's corner, and wondered how Alex’s hair could look that shiny and healthy if **that** was the product he used for it. _ _  
_ _ Lafayette felt bad for his friend. Little things like this made the glaring differences in their lives come to the forefront of his mind. Alexander had never known much different to his impoverished ways on Nevis, and saw no need to change them now, the tradition running deep. _

_ “Why waste money on soap, Laf? It all does the same thing.” was Alex’s reply when Lafayette questioned him about it later that night. _

_ “Mon ami, you are missing a whole world of luxury.” _

_ “I don’t need the frilly shit, Laf. My mom would roll in her grave if she knew I spent that much money on shower gels. Would I like to smell great and have relaxing showers? Sure, but that’s not what I do. I grew up taking showers as fast as possible, cleaning to the best extent you can. Besides, I can’t bring myself to spend fourteen bucks on some shower gel.” _

_ Alex put up the facade that he didn’t mind his cheap soap and 2-in-1 products, but Lafayette knew differently. Whenever Alex spent the night at his place, whether it be for a project or just to hang out in with their group, he always spent much longer than usual in the shower. And when he’d resurface, he’d smell faintly of whatever scent Lafayette was using at the time, a small smile on his face. _

~~~

 

Settling on what he knew to be one of Alex’s favorite scents, Lafayette picked up the full size body wash and body lotion for the “Warm Vanilla Sugar” scent, and the tub of body butter. _ God bless buy two get one sales, _ he thought to himself, smiling that he would still be able to accomplish the gift in budget. He whipped his phone out then, too, and ordered matching scents of shampoo and conditioner on Amazon. Making his way to the checkout counter, he also snagged a new travel size hand lotion from the impulse buy section, for his own book bag.

~~~

 

George trudged backwards out of Bath and Body Works, finding a bench outside the entrance. He pulled out his phone, unlocking it and going to his “Gift Ideas” note he had been maintaining for the last few weeks. 

Scrolling down to ‘James Madison’, he focused on trying to think of any gift ideas. He wasn’t extremely close with the fellow Virginian, but knew his basic likes and dislikes. He did want to ask Laf’s opinion on what to get, but more so wanted to follow the rules that had been set by the group.  _ Maybe I am turning into a bit of a fuddy duddy, _ George thought to himself, smiling at his boyfriend’s earlier phrasing. 

He started typing out some possible ideas, not really sure of what he would decide on yet.

_ Something because he’s always sick??  _  He tapped out. Having no clue where to go from there he opened Google. " _gifts to give someone who is always sick"_ he typed in, getting a slew of responses back. He clicked on the first link, and was met with a large page on "Natural and Herbal Remedies", with a major section on "oil diffusers and essential oils". Shrugging, he typed in "oils" to the note.  He looked up from his phone then, deciding to people watch in hope of perhaps seeing some sort of inspiration pass him by. He continued sitting there for another twenty or so minutes, until finally he saw his boyfriend resurfacing through the crowded storefront. Truly, he saw a glimpse of the unruly ponytail tightened high on his head before he saw the rest of Lafayette; the curls were good for finding the shorter man in crowds.

“Ah, there you are Georgie!” Lafayette bounded over to him, smiling. He leaned up to the taller man as George stood up from the bench. Laf tilted on his tiptoes to gain height and pressed a quick “hello again” kiss to George’s lips, taking his hand back into his own.

“You’re lucky you’re cute, Gilbert. I don’t let anyone else get away with  _ Georgie _ .” He huffed, but without any real heat behind the words.

Instead of responding to the privilege with nomenclature Lafayette was granted, he instead asked “So, is there anywhere in particular you need to go for you Secret Santa participant?”

“You’re here much more than I am, Laf. Is there anywhere that has um-" He checked his phone again, to make sure the name was right. "herbal remedies, maybe? Or like, oil diffusers or something like that?” 

“Oui! It’s on the first level though, so back to the escalators!” Lafayette began pulling them towards the escalators, but stopped short a few minutes later when he dashed quickly into a different store, with a  rushed “Un moment, l'amour!”.  

George was left in the walkway, stepping back from the traffic of people to figure out the store his boyfriend had just ran into. Looking up confused, George turned a bright red when he read the rather... _ adult _ name of the establishment, and turned around to go find a different business quite far from this one.

~~~

Feeling a hand press the small of his back, George turned around quickly, only to find his boyfriend behind him, now holding two bags; one from Bath and Body Works, and the other a mysterious black plastic.

Clearing his throat, George looked at Laf. “So- the herbal remedies store? I think my person will appreciate those sorts of things.”

Laughing at his American partner’s discomfort Lafayette nodded. “So- you’re person must be getting sick if they need a remedy…” Lafayette trailed off as the maneuvered around the swarms of excited holiday shoppers. George looked pointedly ahead, not wanting to give the person away.

“I’m sure James will love this idea!” Smiled Lafayette broadly, earning a groan of annoyance from George in response.

_ I don’t give him enough credit when it comes to his detective skills.  _ George thought.  _ Damn Frenchie. _

~~~

Entering the natural remedies store, George was once more hit with an onslaught of scents, causing his olfactory glands to protest. Sneezing as the ventured into the space, he thought of how this was a  _ much _ different kind of smell to Bath and Body Works. Before there had been the high-intensity smells of alcohol-based body sprays, and the permeating smell of too sickly sweet floral. Here, it smelled a bit like a wet dog and a hippie went for a run in a forest, while it was raining Patchouli oil. Wrinkling his nose, he trailed after Lafayette who had ended up at the back wall.

“Honey, I am quite thoroughly out of my comfort zone in here. Truthfully, that's the same with the entire mall in general, but especially in this place.” He informed Lafayette, coming up behind him. 

Lafayette just chuckled, not turning his attention away from the barrel of small glass vials in front of him. “Here’s your mission then, Washington. Go ask the guy at the counter- yes, the one with the dreads and bare feet- to lead you to the oil diffusers. I can do the rest.” 

Nodding resignedly, George about-faced and went back to the front of the almost-empty store to find the clerk. George wasn’t one to judge by appearances. He was very much pro whatever-floats-your-boat. He just thought that bare feet and an open button down with no undershirt was in no way the right attire to be running a proper business.

“Excuse me, sir? Can you lead me to the oil diffusers?” He asked, reaching the counter. The other man looked up, his eyes slightly red.

“Sure man, they’re right over here.” The man slid over the counter instead of walking around, and led George to the front right corner of the store, walking behind a large bookcase. There was two large shelves in the little nook. They consisted of different looking glass and plastic shaped _things_ , that were spouting off different forms of smoke.

“We try to keep them back here out of the main room to stop the smells from getting to be too much for the customers.”

“Thank-” Before George could finish, he left off a large sneeze. The store clerk laughed, already walking back to the cashier’s desk. Wrinkling his nose at the even more intense smell of being right next to the diffusers, he tried to discern the differences between them. Feeling entirely out of his element, he settled on a white twenty dollar model, that was letting off a faintly white smoke. He grabbed the box under the display model, and hurried out of the corner, trying to escape the scents that were already starting to hurt his head.

Meeting Lafayette at the checkout counter, he saw the Frenchman had already put down four glass vials with little cards as well. Placing the diffuser next to vials, he looked over at Laf as the cashier rang them up.

“They’re the best oils for general well being and sinus relief, with little informational cards too.”

“Oh- thank you Laf. I’d be clueless without you.”

“See- you should’ve just let me in on who you picked from the start.” The shorter man winked back. 

~~~

Walking out of the mall, laden down with bags, George turned to Lafayette.

“Does the whole essential oil thing really work?”

“Eh, some of them do. I think James will appreciate it though. I think he is one who can use the benefits of the- how do you say? Placebo effect. Besides, they all smell nice anyways.”

George just smiled in response, clicking his car key to see where they had parked, happy to be finally leaving the mall and returning home with his favorite Frenchman.

"I love you, Gil." George said, still walking towards the car.

"And I, you, mon amour." Lafayette grinned, happy that George seemed to be in a somewhat sappy mood. He grabbed his boyfriend's hand and held it tight in his own as they walked the length of the emptying parking lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! :D I really hope you like it!!! So this squared away the gifts for Alex and James. I'm not sure if I'll do chapters for everyone's buying escapades, but I may! There will definitely be more :D If you guys have any ideas as to what certain gifts should be, or any other feed back, please let me know! :D Thank you again for reading!
> 
> (Also, do y'all think the characterization is alright for George? I worry I made him to relaxed of a character?)


	4. Lams Finds the Perfect Gifts

**~~~**

John snuggled deeper into the warmth, not wanting to wake up yet. Alex and he had gotten to his apartment fairly late last night, coming home from George’s house.

“John…” A melodic voice whispered in his ear, brushing some of the curls that had escaped his bun overnight behind his ear.

Groaning in response, John burrowed into what he know recognized as Alex’s chest. He was nowhere near the level of consciousness his boisterous boyfriend usually required. 

“Babe, wake up.” He felt Alex’s breath on his neck, and wrinkled his nose.

“Maybe if you go brush your teeth. Then I’ll think about it.” Moaned John, the last grip of unconsciousness slipping away from his grasp.

“Fine.” Alex pushed out of bed fast, muttering under his breath as John began the slow process of sitting up.

**~~~**

“ _There._ I’m all clean now.” Alex jumped back onto the bed, landing roughly next to John. “Now, I’ve gathered you here today to speak on a very important issue.”

John raised a single eyebrow in response to the mock-serious tone his boyfriend had adopted, as if he was leading a meeting and not speaking to his exhausted boyfriend.

“Who did you get for Secret Santa?!”

John rolled his eyes, wanting to play with Alex before he let him know. “I’m not telling you! You heard Angie, we can’t tell each other.”

Alex’s face crumpled into a dramatic expression of furrowed eyebrows and an open mouth. “But  _ querido, _ we always tell each other secrets. That’s one of the best parts of relationships. You get double the secrets. Besides, this is a good one to share. If you look at this from an entirely objective perspective, this is just to benefit humanity.” 

“Me telling you who I pulled for Secret Santa will benefit the whole of humanity?” John wasn’t necessarily shocked at the large statement from his boyfriend- the prolific man could debate his hyperbolic statements for hours. John was just curious to see  _ how _ Alex would defend this proclamation, especially at nine in the morning on a Saturday.

“Sí, mi amor. You see, the benefit of humanity is truly at stake if you don’t inform me of your giftee. You see, if I’m aware, I can then help you brainstorm. If I help you brainstorm, the possibility of picking the perfect gift for your person increases astronomically. Following that, giving a person the perfect gift will surely increase the happiness in that person, their dopamine levels skyrocketing. As the people in our group are forces to be reckoned with, and will surely be holding differing levels of political office, this is especially good. The increase of good feelings in these sorts of people increase good memories associated with this time of year.   As acts of aggressions increase exponentially during winter time, the possibility of you pulling someone in our friend group who will be in a serious position to have the ability to affect war-like behavior on an international level in the future increases this importance for you to get the correct gift even more so. See, let’s say you pull Peggy. Peggy in twenty years is the president, the holder of the nuclear codes. She is surrounded by bad memories, them swirling around her head as the Christmas season approaches. Suddenly, Hercules, her secret service leader bursts into the oval office, informing her that Syria has just possibly committed a terrorist attack against the American embassy. We are 75% sure that it was government sponsored. Peggy, ready to push the nuclear launch looks up suddenly, something floating into her stress-ridden mind. A gift, some twenty years earlier. The  _ perfect _ gift, to be exact, from one John Laurens. It comforts her, the memory of this gift. She lifts her hand off the launch pad, requesting instead of a war declaration more research into the event be conducted.”

At this point Alex breathed in the largest breath his lungs could hold before continuing. “You see, you’ve just saved our world from world war three. Congrats, John. And all because you let me help you pick the perfect gift.”

The silence seemed deafening after the extreme (and loud) hypothetical situation presented by his dear Alexander. John let the silence surround him for a short moment before laughing deeply, pulling Alex into a hug. “God, you brilliant whirlwind of a man. Good god, I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve you, but thank god I did it.” 

Alex looked back at John, pulling away. Starting into his eyes, he leaned his head in. “So…” he whispered, leaning in closer until their lips were almost touching. “Who did you draw?”

Pushing Alex back onto his back, John jumped off of the bed, headed to their bathroom.

“John!” complained Alex at his retreating back.

“Calm down, Lex. I pulled George!” John yelled back, before entering the bathroom, shutting the door with a resounding slam.

John startled from his deep study-reverie as he heard the loud bark of laughter that belonged to his boyfriend permeate the silent atmosphere. Looking up expecting to see Alex next to him as the laugh was so loud, John was surprised to find he was no longer in the living room. 

“I found the perfect gift for Jefferdick!” Yelled Alex, walking through John’s apartment (that was basically their apartment as Alex had been staying there for the majority of the past month).

“What is it?” Inquired John, looking up from his textbook as his hurricane of a boyfriend bursted into the living room.

Alex was cautiously balancing his laptop on his arm, waving the other one as he spoke. “I was on Amazon just messing around and I found the  _ perfect gift. _ John, you don’t understand. Think of the best thing for Jefferdick, then multiply it by ten.”

“Oh god- Alex, what is it?”

Instead of responding, John was thrusted the laptop as Alex started laughing again.

John looked at the screen, seeing a very thick book’s enlarged picture. He squinted at the title in the picture-  _ “500 of the Best Mac and Cheese Recipes (for the Connoisseur)”. “ _ Oh-my-GOD!” John wheezed out between guffaws, setting the laptop on the coffee table before he dropped it in delight. “Lexi that’s fucking  _ perfect. _ Holy crap, he’ll love that.”

“It was made for him! I’m saw it and started laughing so hard. I already ordered it.” 

John snorted in response, returning to his book as Alex rushed back out of the room.

**~~~**

A few days later, John and Alex were at a homewares store, looking around idly for different gift ideas for George.

John was leafing through some posters in a display frame when he heard a “John!” from the aisle over. Sighing, John went to see what his boyfriend needed.

“Yeah, babe?”

“Look at this shelf and tell me which pillow Jefferson would be, if he were a pillow.”

“Alex, what? What kind of question is that? You really need to start sleeping more. We should pick up some extra strength Melatonin while we’re out-”

“John, just  _ look. _ ” Alex interrupted in an urgent tone.

John rolled his eyes, directing his view to the overflowing shelf of throw pillows. Starting at the far left end, he raked his eyes over the pillows, stopping short at a large, magenta velvet pillow. Even better, stitched in the middle was the eiffel tower in magenta sequins.

“...holy shit.”

“It’s on sale.”

“You have to.”

“Yep. You may return to your shopping now.”

**~~~**

“Ok, I think I know what I’m going to do for George.” 

“Hmmph?” 

“Alex, wake up, it’s almost noon.”

“Hmmph!”

“Yeah, I know you don’t sleep.”

“Hhm, shhould lemme when I doo.”

“Shut up you dormilón.”

“...”

“I’m going to paint him a landscape of Mount Vernon, since he always is talking ‘bout missing the view of his house. Besides, I haven’t painted in awhile and I don’t want my oils to crust up.”

“Mhmmm.”

“ _Alex_ _wake UP!”_

“...no.” 

“lo que sea, I’m going to get my paint stuff out of the closet.”

“Mmkay.”

**~~~**   
  


"How do I wrap a throw pillow?" groaned Alex, fluffing the wrapping paper mountain around him angrily.

"Put it in a bag, you goof."

"But I put the book in a bag, he's going to say something rude about my wrapping abilities." Alex huffed, not wanting to fight Jefferson on Christmas.

"You wrapped a  _book_ in a bag? Lex, that's the ideal thing to wrap in paper!" John looked up incredulously from his painting at the dining room table, craning his neck to see his boyfriend's wrapping operation on the floor in the living room. "Why does it look like the hobby lobby clearance section exploded on our floor?"

"I can't wrap!" Shouted Alex angrily, falling backwards onto his back.

"I'll make you a deal. Go out, buy a fresh roll of wrapping paper-" John eyed the large ball of tape beside Alex's hand, lifting his eyebrows. "A new pack of tape, ribbon, and pick up dinner. Then I'll wrap them all for you."

"Deal!" Smiled Alex broadly, jumping up to get his keys. 

"Love ya!" was all John heard before the door slammed not even a minute later.

"How can he be the smartest person I've ever known and yet so  _incompetent?_ "" Laughed John affectionatley, resuming to dusting the trees in his painting with a lighter green to add to the dimensions of leaves.

**~~~**   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I really hope y'all like this! :D I started cracking up when I thought of the gifts for Jefferson, and I love the idea that John is secretly amazing at art. Sorry if it's short, but I want to update this as much as possible, so I'm trying to pump the chapters out fast! :D Also, if you liked this I have another lams one-shot on my profile! It's not related to this story, though. Anyways, thank you so much for reading! If you have any ideas for gifts for certain characters, any feedback, or possible prompt one-shot ideas, I'd love to hear them! Thanks again! :D


	5. Marliza Domesticity in the Face of Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the continued readership, kudos, and amazingly sweet comments. They mean the world to me <3

 

**~~~**

  “Hey Maria! It’s Eliza. Eliza Schuyler. Your, um- well, as of recent developments, your girlfriend! Anyways, I have your slip for the secret santa exchange from when we picked last night. So if you wanted to meet up after your class so I can give it to you, we can possibly get lunch? If not, just lemme know! Alrighty, I’ll talk to you later! Bye!” Maria smiled as Eliza’s melodic voice sounded through the voice mail message that had been left a little over an hour ago. She was dating a complete dork and she _loved_ it. It was certainly much better than her last significant other- Maria stopped the thought in its tracks, not wanting to ruin her good day. Eliza was one of the only people who actually still preferred to call instead of texting. Maria, however was _not_ one of those people.

“ _Just got out of class. It was B O R I N G as H E L L. But yes to lunch!!!! Meet you at Panera in twenty?”_ She sent off the text, walking in the direction of the on-campus Panera, choosing to get a jump start as she didn’t want to rush in her stilettos.

  Maria’s phone buzzed in her purse, and she fished it out as she pressed the crosswalk button.“ _Sounds perfect! Be there soon! :-D “_

 

**~~~**

 

“Here ya go!” Eliza bounded up to the table where Maria was sat, thrusting the small slip of paper into her hands as she looked up.

 

“Thanks, doll!” She unfolded the paper and smiled slyly at the named scrawled down. _Eliza S._ She crumpled it back up and tossed it into her purse.

 

“I know that you don’t really know a lot of the group, so if you want help with figuring out a gift I’d love to help you! Thank you for doing this, and meeting my friends. It means a lot to me.” Eliza smiled a toothy grin at her girlfriend, sliding into the booth across from her.

 

“Thankfully I actually know this person, so I think I’ll be ok. Thank you though. Oh, I also already ordered you cheesy broccoli soup and peach tea when I bought mine, so it’ll be here soon.”

 

“Oh my gosh, you know my Panera order. You’re the bestest! So wait, _can_ I know who you have?”

 

“I think not! Angelica texted me and told me that we aren’t supposed to tell each other to ensure the surprise of it all.”

 

“...darn.”

 **~~~**  


  Eliza sighed, setting the project face down on the coffee table to stretch her arms and crack her knuckles. She was about to pick the in-progress gift back up when there was a series of three fast and sharp knocks on her front door. She jumped up, making sure to pause the show before she left the room. Even if she had seen Leslie Knope’s escapades hundreds of times she didn’t want to miss anything.

  Eliza smiled wide, having already identified the knocking to belong to her best friend and girlfriend, Maria. She crossed over to the door quickly, the open floor plan in the small apartment giving her easy access to the door. Throwing it open without needing to ask who it was, her smile grew wider when Maria stepped in.

Leaning down to give Eliza a quick kiss, Maria shut the front door behind her.

“Working on your gift for Burr?” Maria smiled, walking behind Eliza back into the living room and spotting the upside down cross-stitch on the coffee table, with the paused episode of Parks and Recreation illuminating the room along with the myriad of lamps. (Eliza’s favorite show to watch while she was crafting).

 

“How long have you been working on this one?” Maria inquired over her shoulder as she walked into the kitchen from the living room to grab a bottle of water from the fridge and the bowl of grapes Eliza always kept at the ready.

 

  “Um- hold on.” Eliza  replied, picking up the remote from the couch arm. She clicked a button and then turned towards the kitchen so her girlfriend would hear her. “This is season three, and I’ve been working since the middle of season one… so, a little while? That’s the best measurement of time I have honestly.”

 

Maria laughed as she reentered the room, carrying the bowl of grapes and water. “I wouldn’t have you any other way, dear.” Eliza smiled as she grabbed a grape out of the bowl, popping it into her mouth.

 

“ It is taking longer than I expected though; I want it to be perfect, since it has a special meaning for him.” Eliza said, sitting back down on the couch, curling her still-warm blanket (the one that Maria had given her for their one-month anniversary last month) back around her shoulders. Eliza looked up to her still-standing girlfriend and gave her a pointed look, patting the cushion next to her. Maria smiled, stepping out of her heels and placing them by the side table before also going to sit on the couch.

 

“Of course you want it to be perfect; it’s because you're perfect.” Maria leaned in and kissed Eliza’s nose softly. Eliza turned bright red, looking away while muttering a quiet “thank you.”

Maria was sat beside Eliza and pulled the smaller woman’s legs into her lap. “Now, I’ll have you know I came here for one thing and one thing only.” Maria informed Eliza, leaning back to pull another blanket from the mass that always rested on the back of the couch.

 

“Oh?”

 

“It was for the express purpose of watching the third season of Parks and Rec for approximately the fiftieth time this year.”

 

“You only like me for my netflix account.”

 

“No, I like you for _much_ more than that. The fact that you have a netflix is just icing on the cinnamon roll that is you.”

 

**~~~~**

 

“Holy shit, Liza that looks awesome!” Maria looked down at her girlfriend’s lap and

took the first look at her current piece of work. “ _Talk less, smile more”_ was embroidered on the fabric on in a dark purple cursive script, with small bundles of violet flowers spaced around the piece. “What does that mean? I’ve heard him say it a few times. Mainly in response to Alex, though.”

 

“He and I were up really late one night talking after our evening comp class ended freshmen year. Basically, his mother used to say it to him all the time, to try to get him to stop overthinking things and to just smile. She told him if you smiled, even if you didn’t mean it at first you’d still feel happy from it sooner or later. He was so serene when he was telling me all that. To be fair, it could’ve easily been to do with the fact that we were nineteen and slightly wine-cooler-drunk, but you could tell how much he loved his mom. He even used that as his senior quote in high school.” Eliza smiled fondly at the memory. It was one of the first times her and Burr had spent time alone together-an albeit rare occasion, even now. But he had seemed to trust her so much with the story that she’d still think of it from time to time.  “Anyways, the violets are hers and his birth month flowers, so I thought that’d be nice. He always sends her a bouquet of violets on her birthday when he can’t go back home.”

 

“Oh my god, you’re the sweetest person ever. I don’t know how I’ve gotten so lucky.”

 

“Maria?”

“Yeah, doll?”

 

“...”

 

“Eliza? Are you ok?”

 

“I love you.”  


“Oh! Oh my god. I mean, I love you too. Of course.” Eliza decided then to be done with the project for the moment, intending to spend the next episode’s time length with her girlfriend. Who _loved_ her. Eliza smiled to herself, a warm feeling curling in her stomach. She set down the embroidery work and then laid her body down on the couch, her head resting on Maria’s thighs. She let her card her fingers softly through her hair as the show resumed.

 

**~~~**

 

“So, are you going to tell me who you got, yet?”

 

“Shh, Tom’s talking.”

 

“Mariaaaa…”

 

“I’m not telling you Cin.”

 

“I’m sorry, _sin_? Like, a crime in the eyes of God?” Eliza leaned up to look confusedly at her girlfriend.

 

“No, you. Cin, like a cinnamon roll. Because that’s what you are. Now, as I said, Tom’s talking, so it’s quiet time.” Eliza laughed, pushing up all the way from Maria, picking the project back up and resuming the painstaking work.

**~~~**

After Eliza had started to fall asleep during the start of the fifth episode, Maria decided it was time for her to head back to her dorm. After making sure her hard working girlfriend made it to her bed, that her TV was off, and the lovingly made present was safely set on the table where it wouldn't possible tear, Maria locked the deadbolt and left. When she got to her dorm, she pulled the present she had started for Eliza off of the shelf above her bed. She wanted to see what spaces were left, and smiled when she saw there was quite a few spaces left to fill. Her smile remained on her face as she moved to turn on the printer and connected her phone to it.

**~~~**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thank you so so much for reading this chapter and the story! The next one I think will be Hercules'. I'm not sure who else I want to write for, so maybe after that will be the (long) gift exchange, and then the one shots that will surely spawn off of this story! (I already have some in mind!)  
> BUT if you guys have certain characters you want me to write before the exchange, please please let me know!! (Maybe Jeffs and Jmads?) I'm going out of town this weekend so there probably won't be an update until Monday or Tuesday! :(  
> ANYWAYS, thank you so much again, and if you have any ideas, comments, suggestions, or any other feedback I would love to hear it so so much! <3


	6. Hercy-poo Sews (Feat. Pegs)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao- I'm so sorry for this chapter's title but it's so late and I totally call him this in my head.  
> Thank you to everyone who's continued to read, has just started reading, and leaves kudos or comments. It all makes me so happy, and makes me day. Thank you all so much <3

**~~~**

Hercules brought the bundles of fabric up to the cutting counter, letting them down carefully, bending down to let the large and carefully stacked grouping of fabrics onto the table. “Hey Judy!” Hercules greeted the woman behind the counter happily, having gotten to know her over the past two years as he was buying new fabrics constantly. He had found the small local store halfway through the first semester of his Freshmen year, and had been coming regularly ever since.

 

“Hello dear. How’re today?” Her southern accent rolled around the words, causing Hercules’ face to break out in a smile.

 

“I’m even better now that I’ve seen you Judy!” He laughed, causing the elderly woman to smile adoringly at him.

 

“Hercules, you’ve made an old woman’s day. Thank you, dear Now, my oh my-” She began unstacking the fabrics, spreading out the different bundles on the counter. “These are some gorgeous selections, what’re you making this time?”

 

“My friends and I decided to do a Secret Santa exchange, since we’re all broke college kids, and I pulled my best friend, Lafayette’s name. I’m going to make him a bathrobe.”

 

“Oh, that sounds lovely, dear!” She smiled, starting to unwrap a big bundle of soft fabric that was a vibrant red. “How many yards?”

 

“One of each color please. Also, as you’re the expert here, Judy, what kind of stitch should I use? I don’t want it to bunch.”

 

“You know more than I do at this point Hercules, you’re just appeasing an old woman.”

 

“Never!” He grinned at her. They small talked until she finished cutting his fabrics and rang him up, giving him the “Hercules' discount” that he had been getting for the past year.

 

“Thanks again for everything Judy! I’ll be back soon, I’m sure!”

 

**~~~**

 

Hercules had bought the fabrics for the robe a week ago, but had not had any time to even pick them up from their place in the corner of his small room on a chair. The final exam for his 3000-level fashion design class had been due today, and he had finished an hour before the noon deadline. Retroactively, Hercules admonished himself for assuming the task of designing an entire cast’s costumes would be a walk in the park . _Maybe I should look into those extreme planners Peggy is always talking about_ he thought to himself as he walked into his room, dropping his large messenger bag onto his bed. He looked over at the mound of clothes, cracked his knuckles, and made his way over to the corner.

 

**~~~~**

 

Hercules stared helplessly at the mound of fabric, which hadn’t magically transformed itself into the robe he was envisioning for his best friend. Groaning, he looked down at his phone that he had been playing mindless games on for the past half hour instead of actually working on his present. He exited out of the distracting app, and dialed the one person he knew could help.

 

“This is Peggy!”

 

“Pegs, you have to help me!”

 

“Ohmygosh, Hercules, are you ok? What’s wrong? Do you need me to come over?”

 

“I’m okay! Just- well, you know how I have a bad, er- procrastination problem?”

 

“...yes?”

 

“I still haven’t started on the gift for Lafayette, and it’s a pretty big one, and I know that if I don’t have someone yelling at me every five minutes to not mess around on my phone I won’t get it done.”

 

“Well, Herc, I’m proud.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“The first step is admitting that you have a problem. The second step is inviting me over to parent you and watch old RuPaul’s Drag Race reruns as I make sure you get this gift done.”

 

“You’re the best.”

 

“Yep!” Her laugh rang like bells as she hung up, presumably to pack an overnight bag and head over.

 

**~~~**

 

“Oh, you have _got_ to be kidding me!” Hercules yelled at the small television in his living room, the volume up all the way to account for the loud whirring (that was supposed to be) coming from his sewing machine.

 

“Ugh, I _know_! Can you believe Chi Chi keeps getting away with this crap?” Peggy threw some popcorn into her mouth, moving to prop her feet up on the hassac. She smiled internally at the fact Hercules was getting into the program he had protested against her turning on. When she had told him she could easily turn around and leave, leaving him with no supervision, he had grumpily passed her the remote.

 

“I mean, if you can’t sew, you just can’t be a good drag queen.” Hercules snorted at the screen, shaking his head. “That’s science.”

 

“Preach it, sister.” Peggy laughed. “Now get back to work!”

 

“I am working!” Hercules complained, looking over at Peggy annoyed.

 

“No, you're watching a show you didn't even want to watch in the first place! Besides, if you're working, why haven’t you done the back-stitch that’s been set to go for the past ten minutes?”

 

“...point taken. But if the next episode has another queen not sewing I am _rioting_.”

 

"I thought you didn't even want to watch this show, Herc?"

 

"I mean- I'm just appreciating the fashion designing integrity that they're presenting."

 

"Whatever, we're totally starting from the beginning and you're going to love it."

 

 **~~~**   


“DONE!”

 

“Wha?” Peggy bolted up from the futon in the living room at Herc’s loud outburst.

 

“Peggy, I finished it! It’s all done!” He jumped out of his seat and threw on all the lights, making Peggy groan and squint and the burly man.

 

“Ta-da!” He turned towards her, thrusting the fluffy robe towards her that was hanging on a robe.

 

Trimmed in black velvet and sewn from three main colors, the color blocking made a perfect and very fashionable replica of the French flag. The two large pockets on the front were embroidered with  a very ornate and bright red “L”’s. The neck lapel was a matching royal blue with the blue section of the robe. The entire article was soft to the touch, and was the perfect thing for the Frenchmen.

 

“Oh my god. That’s perfect. You’re- He will. Oh my god, that’s just so good.”

 

“Thank you Pegs! That means a lot to me, coming from you. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out!” He flashed her his wide smile, setting the robe down carefully on his chair so it wouldn’t wrinkle.  “Can you help me wrap it?”

 

“Hercules Mulligan! You have the most nimble and crafty fingers that I’ve ever seen! You seriously want me to wrap this beautiful piece of hand crafted art?” Peggy looked at the man incredulously, not believing he really needed her help, just not knowing why else he would ask for it.

 

He looked hopeful at the small woman on the futon, smiling before answering “Yes?”

 

A groan came from the Schuyler who had re-wrapped herself into a cocoon of blankets and hand-sewn quilts. Peggy knew that no matter what Herc asked for help with though, she’d say yes. Still, though, she was exhausted. “I’ll do it in the morning, you goon. Now, as it is much too late for either of us to be awake, let me return to my beauty sleep and you go to bed.”

 

“Margarita, I can promise you, you don’t need any beauty sleep. Uh- sorry. Anyways, thank you for coming over- I’m going to go to bed now, uh- night!” he rushed off, kissed her forehead as she curled back up, and flipped off the lights as he left the room, missing the slight blush and smile that crept onto her face.

  
It didn’t escape him though, that his face heated up some as well at the unplanned compliment he gave her. He didn’t know what possessed him to do that, but he was happy he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So- Pegs and Herc may be a thing?? WOops. I think next is Tjeffs and Jmads, and then perhaps some more of the Schuylers before the gift exchange. Also, I hope the characterizations were ok? I'm still getting a feel for them. If you guys have any ideas, prompts, requests, comments, or feedback, I appreciate and read them all! Thank you all so much! <3


	7. JeffMads Domesticity

**_~~~~_ **

 

**_Macaroni-and-yesPLEASE started a new conversation_ **

 

**Macaroni-and-yesPLEASE:** What do I get for your girlfriend?

**Middle Schuyler:** I’m assuming this is for the SS exchange? Also, am I seriously listed as “Middle Schuyler”?!

**Macaroni-and-yesPLEASE:** 1) Yes, I pulled her name and I’m not aware to her likes. 2) Yes, I have to differentiate you all somehow.

**Middle Schuyler:** We look nothing alike??

**Middle Schuyler:** Hmm… She loves the color red!

**Macaroni-and-yesPLEASE:** Seriously? You’re only giving me the color red to go off of? Don’t you want your gal-pal to have a good holiday?

**Middle Schuyler:** Of course I want her to have the best holiday possible, BUT I also don’t want to give you the entire gift idea. You know her some, and she’s been coming over to our hangouts more. Just try to figure out something.

**Middle Schuyler:** Also, don’t patronize me by calling her my gal-pal, Thomas. I have no qualms on reporting you to Madison.

**Macaroni-and-yesPLEASE:** Sorry.

 

**~~~**

 

“Jemmy, what do girls want?” Thomas looked imploringly at his boyfriend, turning away from the mass of clothes he had been cautiously carding through, as if worried the articles of clothing would attack him, sensing his Y-chromosome. 

 

“Thomas, need I remind you that I’m just as gay as you are? I have no clue what girls like.”

 

“But you have sisters!”

 

“So do you!” 

 

“Whatever. Schuyler told me she liked ‘red’. What do I do with that?” Thomas huffed dramatically, turning back around to the racks of clothes, now angrily shuffling through the garments.

 

“She’s always wearing that dark red lipstick, why don’t you get her some different red colors? Or, I don't know, maybe nail polish?”

 

“Yeah, that could maybe work.” Thomas ran a hand through his mass of curls, surveying the large store around him. “Let’s go to the upper level and see what there is.”

 

**~~~**

 

“Ooh, I like this. Isn’t she always complaining she’s cold?” Thomas held up a very soft and very red cable knit sweater. 

 

“Oh, that is nice. Yeah, she’s always in huge overcoats when she gets to George’s.” James nodded, running his hands over the soft sweater.

 

“Ok, then it’s settled. I’ll get her this. Thank _god_ that’s over with.” Thomas elegantly draped the sweater over his arm, maneuvering out of the pit of clothing, dragging James behind him, as he lead the way to the counter. Exhaling in frustration to the long line of teenage girls that greeted him at the checkout area, he resigned himself to a long wait. He began to peruse the  surrounding helves of small (and mostly unnecessary) items meant to entice young shoppers, Thomas falling prey to the obvious trap. Among the new additions he excitedly picked up was a bottle cherry red nail polish, and a charcoal face mask that looked like something Maria would use. (And something Jefferson would use, as he bought a few extra. I mean they were only a  _dollar._ What a steal.)

 

**~~~**

  
  


“You’re cute when you’re frustrated.” James said simply, watching Thomas angrily tear up the wrapping paper piece that had torn before he could begin using it.

 

“Shut up.”

 

“So eloquent, too.”

 

“Can you please stop patronizing me and instead actually contribute to the fantastic air of Christmas fun I am  _ trying  _ to create?” Thomas huffed, turning around from his place on the living room’s plush rug to look angrily at his boyfriend, who was curled up on the couch above him.

 

“You are so damn sassy, I swear to god. How do I put up with you?” James laughed, letting the blanket fall away from his shoulders as he sat up.

 

“Because I can pull of a velvet magenta coat like nobody’s business. Besides, we agree on too many things to not be together.” Jefferson smiled cockily at the man as he sat next to him on the rug, motioning for Thomas to move the present to him.

 

“What even is this?” James asked, inspecting the mob of tape and wrapping paper the had congealed into a mass of frustration-fueled abstract art in lieu of an actual present-shape.

 

“It’s the sweater!”

 

“Thomas! You didn’t even  _ fold  _ it. Dear lord- how did you even get it into this shape?” He turned the lump over in his hands, trying to peel off some of the tape. “Ok, go into the wrapping bin and get me a shirt box, tissue paper, a smaller box for the little things you got her- or better yet maybe a bag. Ribbon, a new thing of tape, and a pair of  _ actual _ scissors. I mean, where did you even  _ get  _ kids’ scissors?” Thomas just smiled at him, not responding to the question.

 

He left the room, hunting for the large collection of James’ wrapping supplies, only to return with the entire bin of materials rather than the few requested items. “I forgot what you said.” He said apologetically as he set the large bin down.

 

Sighing, James started extracting the necessary supplies out of the bin, telling Thomas to “Go make dinner, I deserve payment for services rendered.” And then, calling after him into the kitchen as he heard a cabinet shut, “If you’re making macaroni and cheese again I’m breaking up with you!”

 

James couldn’t help the small smile that appeared on his face when he heard the small “...well, shit.” come out of the kitchen.

 

“Uh- what do you want for dinner, then?” Came the meek reply, earning a loud guffaw in response.

 

“You can just order from the Mexican place up the street if you want.”   
  


“On it!”

  
  


**~~~** ****  
  


“Wait, who did you have, again?” Thomas looked up from his take out box, confused, as if he had been trying to figure it out for awhile.

 

“Huh?” Asked James, taking a spoonful of the beans and rice from the sides-portion of the container.

 

“For secret santa! I can’t remember who you have.”

 

“Oh! Angelica.” James said after swallowing the large bite of rice and beans he had taken.

 

“Do you still need to buy for her? We can go tomorrow if you want.” Thomas said, stabbing a piece of chicken with his fork. “I know we spent most of our free time today on my gifts.”

 

“Oh, no. It’s ok, I already got her gift like two weeks ago.” James smiled at him, snorting at the incredulous look on his face.

 

“How did you already know what to get her?” Thomas inquired, surprised.

 

“Well, we  _ are  _ friends, Tommy. I just listen,”

 

“God, I suck at gifts. I literally never know what to buy for people. So what did you buy her?”

 

“Well, her and I were leaving book club the other week and on the way back to campus, we went into this international home-wares store, and she  _ loved  _ this set of pink Himalayan salt shot glasses. So I got her that and a travel sized bottle of tequila, so I could still fit in the price range.” James was very happy with his gift for Angelica, and had gone back to the store that same day to buy the set.

 

“That’s nice- I’ve never seen salt shot glasses befo-  _ wait _ . she’s in your old ladies’ book club?!” Thomas questioned, mouth agape in shock.

 

James rolled his eyes at his boyfriend, taking a long sip of his water before answering. “Firstly, it’s  _ not  _ an old ladies book club, you just like to call it that, you ass. And yes, she is.  We always walk to the meetings together and then get lunch and talk afterwards.”

 

“About what?!”   
  


“Our families, college, gossip about the women in the club- no, they’re not  _ old _ women, Thomas- complain about our annoying significant others-”

 

“Hey!” 

 

“You asked.” James flashed a toothy grin at his boyfriend, earning a huff in response.

 

**~~~**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry the Jeffmads chapter isn't long! I didn't know what else to add to it :/ Is there anyone else you all want to see before the gift exchange? Also, 3 things!
> 
> 1) In the gift exchange chapter, I'll include links to as many of the gifts I can find reference pictures for as I can, to show y'all what I'm thinking of when I write this.  
> 2) I kinda want to make a text-based group-text fanfic nowwwwww  
> 3) Thank you all so much for reading this!! If you have any comments or feedback, please let me know! Thank you!! <3


	8. Burr Goes Shopping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is for my favorite Poet; you know who you are!

  
**~~~**

 

“Excuse me?” Aaron apprehensively tapped the sales associate on her shoulder. He had walked into the biggest store in the mall, with the broadest range of things to buy, hoping he could make this his only needed stop.

 

“Hello! What can I do for you today?” The cheery disposition made Aaron groan internally, but _always_ one to please smiled falsely in return.

 

“Hi! Yes, um, well, I need to buy a present for a friend of mine, we’re doing secret santa, and I don’t really know what to get her? Could you help, maybe?” He grinned meekly at her; he truly didn’t know where to turn to. He didn’t want to ask the others in the group, to keep the secrecy that Angelica had requested. Yet, he and Peggy weren’t too good of friends, so he wasn’t sure where to begin.

 

“Of course! How old is she?” The woman, ( who Aaron found to be quite beautiful, now that the over-the-top greeting persona seemed to have faded a bit) asked.

 

“Uh- she’s a freshmen this year. So, 18?”  Aaron hazarded a guess at her age, knowing that she was the youngest of the Schuyler trio.

 

“Oh, ok! Does she go to Columbia? Or one of the other local schools?” The woman and he had migrated out of the main walkway of the store, over into the crevice of clearance racks.

 

“Columbia, that’s where we all go. My friends and I, I mean.”

 

“That’s where I go too! Well, at least where I’m _going_ to go. I’m transferring over next semester. I was at king’s college in London, and since the semesters are a t different times I have to wait. I have a good friend who teacher assists at Columbia too.” The topic had strayed from Aaron’s original purpose of being in the store, but he didn’t seem to mind, talking to the bright woman before him.

 

“I have a friend who teacher assists too, but he’s always complaining that his professor gives just about everything to him, except for his actual paycheck.” He joked with her, pleased when he received a small chuckle in response.

 

“Sorry, I’ve strayed us from the original topic! So, what sorts of things does you friend like?”

 

“Uh… I’m not entirely sure? She’s the youngest of three sisters, is really passionate about New York, Columbia, and everything she stands for?”

 

“Are you asking me?” Joked the woman, as the tone of Aaron’s voice towards the end heightened, indicating a question had been asked.

“No, sorry. Do you maybe have a collegiate section? Or like, a New York section? I’m not entirely sure what else to get her.”

  


The sales woman laughed, and nodded. “You’re a bit hopeless aren’t you? I don’t know what your girlfriend must do with you.” The woman almost seemed to be fishing for the response that Aaron didn’t have a girlfriend to do anything _with_.

 

“I don’t actually have a girlfriend, so alas, I have no one to keep me in check. At least for _now_ .” He smiled at her, thinking in his head _charm her, charm her!!_ He felt a warmth in his stomach as the woman’s smile grew in response to his admission. “Could you show me where the collegiate section is?” he asked, hoping that their conversation hadn’t quite come to an end.

 

Laughing, the woman obliged him. “What’s her major going to be?” The woman prompted, as they walked back towards the collegiate section, happy that she had been asked to remain his guide.

 

“Psychology, with a minor in adolescent and developmental psych. She’s really attached to kids, and always is talking about giving them a voice and helping them in every way she can.”

 

“That’s amazing! You can always give her a funny psychology shirt then! Hold on, actually, I think there’s one in the clearance rack I saw the other day that got ordered by mistake by a new employee.” With that the woman dashed off, leaving Aaron standing bewildered, clueless to where she had led them as he’d been to enraptured in their conversation. It looked like he was now the second floor of the massive store.

 

 **~~~**  


Out of breath, the woman reappeared almost a full ten minutes later, coming up behind Burr who was on his phone, texting Alexander, trying to persuade him to stop fighting people on twitter so viciously.

 

“Here! It’s the last one we had, so I hope she’s a size small.” She presented Burr, who looked up from his phone, shocked, with a shirt that had the Pink Floyd logo on it, however, atop the iconic logo was a portrait of Sigmund Freud, the words “ _Pink Freud”_ emblazoned underneath.

 

“Oh my god- this is amazing. She loves puns so much- you don’t even know her and you found the perfect gift!” He laughed.

 

“What can I say, my job description is to help cute and clueless men who wander into the store.” She smiled flirtatiously at him, handing over the shirt. When he took it from her, though, he noticed an engagement ring on her left hand. He felt his heart plummet slightly, not having realized he had been flirting with an engaged woman.

 

“Oh- you’re engaged?” He said, trying to bring light to the previously unknown information.

 

She looked shocked, asking “Sorry?”

 

Aaron nodded to her left hand, and she looked at it, blushing slightly.

 

“Oh- uh, yeah. I am. He’s still in London though, at King’s.” She coughed awkwardly, unhappy that her fiance, who she didn’t very much care for, was invading her life from all the way from across the sea.

 

“So, thank you again so much. I really appreciate it,…” Burr decided to move on from the sticky subject, letting his voice drop off, waiting for her to supply him with her name.

 

“Theodosia.” She smiled at him, happy to have moved past the awkwardness.

"Nice to meet you, Theodosia. I'm Aaron" He shook her hand, smiling as she returned the formality. Aaron bit his tongue, contemplating his next move. He was never one to do the wrong thing, always one to take the safest choice. But he _really_ liked this woman, and wanted to continue getting to know her, even if it was in a strictly platonic fashion. Hearing Alexander’s voice in his head, urging him to take a chance, Burr made the decision to quickly ask, “So, do you have a phone number Theodosia? I’d love to be able to text you about how much she loves the gift when I give it to her?”

 

The smiled he received was well worth the near-heart attack he had given himself from taking the chance. She nodded, whipping out her phone and handed it to him, to put in his own contact information. He gave her his own so she could put in her number as well.

**~~~**

 

“Sorry to ask you to help with something else, but do you maybe have anything small that is Columbia related? We’re allowed to spend up to thirty bucks or something like that, and I wanted to get her more than just one thing.”

 

“Sure thing; and it’s no bother, I enjoy talking to you.” She led him back on their original path to the collegiate section, where he picked up a Columbia scarf that was soft to the touch and happened to be on sale.

 

“Here, I can just go ahead and check you out, if you want?”

 

“Sorry?!”

 

“...at the register? Like, where you pay.”

 

“Oh!” He laughed awkwardly, nodding. They made their way back up to the front again, and she slipped behind the cashier’s counter when the reached the entrance.

 

Ringing him up, she winked at him. “Here you go, _BRO_.” She said loudly, as a manager walked past her, also behind the counter.

 

Aaron looked at her bewildered- was he just _brother_ zoned? _Burr, stop it. She’s engaged. This is going to be platonic if anything progresses._ He admonished himself mentally.

 

She leaned over the counter, whispering “This way I can give you the friends and family discount without my manger getting on to me for it.”

 

“Oh! Thank you so much Theodosia.”

 

“Course! Us broke college kids have to stick together; besides, you’re much to cute to be my brother.” She winked at him as he blushed, waving goodbye as he left the store.

 

 

**~~~**

Aaron was sitting on his bed, wrapping Peggy’s gifts in the most festive wrapping paper he could find. It was obnoxiously festive, with glittery candy canes that were shedding all over his bed sheets. Groaning in annoyance as a particularly big wave came off of the paper, right onto his pillow, he took out his phone to send a text to Lafayette on how to remove glitter best. He assumed the Frenchman would be the person to consult on this issue, thinking that Laf may have even had his own tried and true method. He smiled as he looked down at his phone, the contact name he hadn’t added staring back at him from the home screen.

 

**_1 new message from "_** **Theodosia ;P "**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So whoopsie daisy this got really TheoBurr and is basically a oneshot on them- woOPS. Also this is totally branching off into a TheoBurr series because I have a whole history in my head about Theo that I want to write about. WOOPS?!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading this, and thank you to all the people who leave kudos and comments- you all make my days. If you have any ideas or feedback, prompts, suggestions, or anything else, I'd love to hear it! Thank you so much!! <3


	9. The Schuyler Sisters (Well, two of them, anyways)

**~~~**

 

“Peeggyyy!” Angelica sang as she let herself into Peggy’s room, wanting to get her sleep-prone sister up and at-'em for their day. 

 

A groan came from the large mound of blankets on the bed, with a slight wiggle as the blankets were drawn tighter into the figure beneath them.

 

“Pegs, seriously get up, we have to go shopping today for our secret santa gifts.”

 

“Wedonhavetoleggotomorrow.” The slurred response came from the bed, the mound of blankets drawing even tighter still.

 

“Now, Margarita it’s not _my_ fault you went out drinking with Hercules last night, you know we’ve been planning to do this for like a week and a half.”

 

“shuddupIwashavinfun.”

 

“Yes I know you were; I’ll go make you breakfast but you seriously need to get up. The mall opens in a half hour and it’s going to be _slammed_.”

 

A grumbled response greeted Angelica’s ears as she walked out of the room, flipping the lights on as she left. Angelica would obviously deny that she grinned when she heard Peggy groan in annoyance as the light flooded her room- that would be just  _cruel._

 

**~~~**

 

Peggy walked into the kitchen in a dark blue Columbia hoodie and yoga pants, her hair in two messy braids.

 

“Good morning, cutie.” Greeted Angelica, handing over the plate of toasted waffles.

 

“Thank you Angie.” Peggy said, taking a seat on the bar stool to dig into the breakfast.

 

“So, I have the gifts I want to buy already and I know the stores I have to go to. I was thinking we’ll both just go our own ways and meet up at the food court for lunch? That way we don’t see what the other is buying. Since it's meant to be a surprise. I don't know if the others have kept to that but I sure as hell am. Sound good?”

 

“Sounds good.” Peggy affirmed, smiling around her mouthful of waffles, earning a reproachful look from Angelica.

  


**~~~~**

 

Angelica walked into the screen printing store, the notebook with her gift ideas in hand. She strode up to the counter, smiling at the attendant as he turned around to greet her. “Hello, how are you today?” A tall and gangly teenager asked her, smiling a brace-filled smile.

 

“Good, and you?”

 

The employee eyed her up and down, eyes resting on her expensive handbag her father had given her last year for her birthday.  “Better now that I’ve seen you, _gorgeous_.” He winked at her, his attempt at flirting falling flat when his voice cracked slightly at the end of his sentence.

 

Angelica stamped down the possible dressing-down she could deliver to the teen, instead trying to just accomplish the first transaction of the day. “Do you guys do custom shirts here?” she asked in a tighter voice.

 

“Anything for you.” He tried again, glancing at her bag once more.

 

“How long would it take to get two custom shirts done? I just need words on them.” She tried to move the conversation along, wanting to be done with the teenager who was beginning to actually creep her out.

  


“For you? I can put in a rush order and have ‘em done after lunch?” He lent over the counter, a somewhat long way for him to come down as he was so tall. He clearly was insinuating that they should have lunch _together_ , but Angelica had _no_ desire to participate in that event.

 

“Awesome! Should I go ahead and tell you what needs to be on them?”

 

The boy went to retrieve an order form and gave it to her wordlessly. She rushed to fill out the form, checking a men’s small and a men’s medium as the two needed sizes, and artfully printing the corresponding words for the shirts.

 

“So what time should I pick this up? Also, how much is it?” She handed him back the paper, returning the pen to the cup on the counter.

 

“It’ll be $20.00 even- of course, that’s with the pretty girls discount. Also, I get off for lunch at 11.30, so-”

Pushing past the obvious invitation to join him for lunch, ( _which would be illegal anyways, as he’s like 17,_ Angelica thought) she interrupted and told him cheerfully, “Thank you so much! I’ll be back around 12.00 then so you can have a nice break!” and rushed out of the store in the most dignified way possible, not wanting to endure more of the incessant flirting and eyeing she had been submitted to.

 

**~~~**

 

“ _Tranquil as a forest, but on fire within, once you find your center, you are sure to win-”_

 

Peggy smiled broadly as she entered the large Disney store and heard the strains of music from her favorite Disney movie ring down from the store-wide speakers. She had known what she wanted to get Hercules from the moment she pulled his name. She began to get excited at the aspect of finally getting his gifts, enough so to the point she could excuse getting up to be at the mall almost when it opened.

 

Peggy made her way to the back corner of the store, knowing from past experience the _Hercules’_ merchandise would greet her there. She walked past all of the various merchandise, cataloging some for future gift reference, as many of her friends loved Disney. As she arrived at the _Hercules_ corner, she went straight to the men’s shirt rack, leafing through until she found the ‘XL’ portion of the clothes. She smiled to herself, picturing the first time she ever met Herc.

 

**~~~**

 

_“Wait, your name is Hercules?!” Peggy asked incredulously, dropping the large man’s hand as Alexander introduced them._

 

_Hercules smiled knowingly, nodding. “Heh, yeah. My parents are Irish and weren’t big Disney fans, so they weren’t quite knowledgeable on what they were subjecting me to when we moved to the states.”_

 

_“That’s so awesome!” She beamed at him, causing him to return the excitable woman’s smile._

 

_“Thanks. Usually I just get some teasing, but I appreciate the excitement.”_

 

_“Oh, I’ll totally reference the movie at you when we become close friends but for now I’ll not torture you.”_

_“It’s not just you, though, Herc.” Alex interjected cheekily. “She quotes Disney at all of her friends.” Peggy just beamed in response._

 

_**~~~** _

 

She laughed as her hands rested on a deep purple shirt with a picture of the cartoon Hercules flexing on it, the phrase “ _More like HUNK-ules”_ in a broad font underneath.  

“Oh Herc, you’re going to _love_ this.” She grabbed the hanger happily, moving to the front of the store to check out, checking her phone as she walked to see if she needed to meet Angelica yet. She sent a text to her, letting her know she would be done soon. She hummed happily as " _Under the Sea"_ swelled audibly around the store.

**~~~**

  


Angelica swerved away from the running child who bolted past her to his mom, yelling excitedly. She looked surprised at the small boy, who happened to remind her vaguely of Alexander.  She maneuvered past the swarms of parents surely shopping for their own children for the winter holidays, walking deeper into the toy store. There was dozens of parents who were talking on their phones, to each other, and possibly to the store itself in exasperated tones. Doing her best to avoid the craziness, she made her way to the stuffed animal section, beginning to dig into the large bins of soft fluff.

 

After an even five minutes and way too many bins, Angelica had found a large and very _very_ soft turtle plushie, with large plastic eyes that stared up at her. She knew John wouldn’t admit to loving the “gag” gift, but he’d be over the moon on the inside, and that’s all that mattered to Angelica. She walked towards the curving check out line, submitting herself to the fact she’d be waiting for at least a half hour behind the mob of stressed parents who were in front of her.

 

Taking out her phone, she saw a text from Peggy. _“Hey- I think I just finished. Meet up in 20?”_

 

Angelica sighed, moving the stuffed turtle to rest under her armpit as she tapped out her response. _“That’s not enough time for me, stuck in a HUGE line.”_

 

She began to pocket her phone again when the obnoxious text-tone sounded. She unlocked her phone again, rolling her eyes at the response. _“Lol sucks 2 be u”_

 

_“P E G G Y”_

 

_“Jk, I’ll just keep shopping. Txt when u escape hell.”_

 

Smirking at her sister’s humor, she sent a quick _“Will do.”_

 

**_~~~_ **

 

“Holy shit- you guys have _Drag Race_ stuff?!” Peggy asked in shock, laughing at the posters on the wall. She had meandered into a random store, after being told by Angelica she needed to waste some time.

 

“Honey, of course we do.”  Joked the man who was hanging up a shirt emblazoned with Liza Minnelli's face on it. Peggy smiled back, deciding to try to find a cheap yet funny gift for Herc as the shirt hadn’t _quite_ hit their price limit.

 

“I forced my best friend to start watching the show a week or so ago. He won’t admit it but he’s completely obsessed.”

 

“Ah, doing the Lord’s work. Bringing straight men into the realm of the gays.”

 

Peggy barked out a laugh at the man, smiling.

 

**~~~**

 

“ _Finally_. Honestly Angelica, I thought you’d never arrive. Points off for tardiness.” Peggy smirked at her sister as she tore off a piece of the large pretzel and dunked it into the artery-clogging cheese. Angelica plopped into the other chair at the table Peggy was at, resting the bag from the toy store onto the ground.

 

“Parents are _ridiculous_. If I ever become that insane after I have kids, please, just shoot me.” Angelica groaned, massaging her temples to stave off the headache that was a culmination of the fluorescents and the screaming parents and kids in the store she had been in.

 

“No promises. Here, take the rest of this pretzel; mall food cures any an all ailments.” Peggy pushed the half-eaten mound of dough to her older sister who gratefully tore a piece off.

 

“Is that official medical advice?” Asked Angelica after swallowing a bite.

 

“Mhmm, just published by the W.H.O last week. Honestly Ang, you should keep up on your medical news.”

  


**~~~**

 

Peggy went along with Angelica to pick up her shirts as it had now passed the teenager’s lunch break, and the sisters were more than ready to begin the half hour drive back home.

 

Walking into the store, Angelica went straight to the counter, where she rang the silver bell. A few moments later Peggy looked up from where she was looking at the clearance racks to see a tall teenager come out of an adjoining room, breaking into a large grin as he spotted Angelica.

 

“Hey, you.” He smiled at Angelica, lidding his eyes.

 

“Hello again. Are the shirts done? My sister and I really need to get going.” Angelica said, striving for professionalism.

 

“So soon?”

 

“Yeah, so soon.”

 

The boy looked put off by the sudden abruptness, but when to retrieve the newly heat-pressed shirts.

 

He came back out of the room and set the two white shirts onto the counter, where Angelica could look at them.

 

Peggy laughed loudly from behind her sister, who hadn’t noticed her approaching.  She looked joyfully at the two shirts that were spread out on the counter. The two shirts were in matching script, the smaller one stating “ _If lost, return to John_ ” while the slightly larger shirt claimed simply, “ _I am John_.”

 

“Peggy- you aren’t supposed to see! Seriously, it’s meant to be a surprise.” Angelica admonished, but with a smile as her sister was clearly so impressed with the gift idea.

 

“It’s not like I know which of the goofs you got these for. I just know you’re a masterclass in gift giving.” She laughed again.

 

“Um, excuse me. Can you swipe the card please?” The boy interjected.

 

“Oh, sure. Sorry!” Angelica smiled at him, which was apparently a mistake as it fueled his previously bruised confidence. She swiped it on the machine and punched in her PIN as he folded and bagged the shirts, handing her the bag.

 

“Thanks- and would you like to join our rewards program?” He grinned at her.

 

“Uh- sure, yeah.” She said resignedly. She _did_ come here for gifts a fair amount.

 

“Awesome. If I could just get your name.” He began, typing out her name at the computer on the counter as Angelica spelled it for him. “Thanks- and if I could just get your number, now?” He whipped out his phone quickly, attempting to be as suave as possible.

 

“...no thanks.” Angelica said, stepping back from the counter, hearing Peggy snigger next to her. They made their way quickly out of the store as the teen started to splutter, going on about how _“I gave you a discount! You totally owe me!”_

  
**_~~~_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bip bop bam, here's a chapter, man.
> 
> Do you guys want any other characters to be featured before the gift exchange? If not, I think I'll start on the gift exchange, which I'm assuming may be multiple chapters. and the related oneshots! (yay)  
> Thank you guys for all the kudos, comments, and continued reading!! It means the world <3 If you guys have any feedback, prompts, suggestions, or anything else I'd love to hear it! <3 Thank you again!


	10. Merry Christmas, Ya Filthy Animals!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! <3 Thank you all so much for your continued readership, kudos, and comments. It was an amazing thing for me to get to read them all, and I loved every minute of it! Thank you so so much for reading and supporting this fic. It means the world. So, without further adieu- Here's to one last time!

 

**~~~**

  
  


“He’ll love it,  _ tortue _ , I promise.” Alex assured his boyfriend, making sure to slip in a French endearment as he did so. 

 

“But I don’t usually paint, and I’m really worried he’d rather have something else.” John was balancing the large wrapped gift in his arms, and had begun to feel self conscious as they got closer to the party.

 

“Relax, John. He’ll love it, I promise. And if he doesn’t I’ll write fight him.”

 

“No you won’t, Lex.”

 

“That’s a fair point, he  _ is _ much bigger than me. I’ll most definitley write a very angry and strongly worded letter, though!” Alex joked.

 

John just snorted in response.

 

Walking up to the door of Washington’s apartment, they began to hear the first straining notes of holiday music leeching into the hallway. Alex laughed as he moved one of his gifts to the other hand to knock on the door, as the gift John was holding was much to big to bother setting it down just to pick it back up again.

 

The door swung open to reveal a very festively dressed Lafayette, donned in a velvet santa hat and a dark green “ _ I’m the naughty one” _ sweater. “ _ Bonjour, mes amies!  _ Come in, come in!” Laf guided them inside the doorway, where they were greeted with the much louder rendition of the song they had heard in the hall.

 

The boys moved over to the Christmas tree, setting the gifts down. (Very,  _ very  _ carefully on John’s part.) Turning around they saw George entering the room, in a matching dark green sweater to Lafayette’s, however, his said “ _ I’m the nice one _ ” in the same script. 

 

“Merry Christmas!” George beamed at them both, moving in to hug Alex as John walked into the kitchen after Laf. 

 

“Merry Christmas, George.” Alexander smiled at his faux-older brother, feeling the tide of gratefulness wash over him that he always felt whenever George showed affection for Alex. He was so grateful to have George in his life as a protector of sorts, an adopted older brother.  

 

“I have a surprise for you- well, actually, Laf and I both do.” George grinned slyly at Alex, walking into the kitchen. Alex chose to follow, curious. They walked into the kitchen together, seeing John and Laf leaning against the kitchen counter chatting happily, Laf having already made John some sort of drink.

 

“Did you both pull my name? We’re not supposed to do extra gifts, George-” Alex’s eyes fell onto the small menorah that was placed on the kitchen counter, with two of the candles lit. “ _ Oh _ .” 

 

“ _ Lion _ , we knew that you used to celebrate Hanukkah back on your island, and we wanted to include that.” Laf smiled at Alex who was staring at the menorah in silence.

 

“We know you’re fine with celebrating Christmas, especially since you’re not really religious, but we wanted to include it still.” George added, fidgeting with the base of the religious symbol.

 

“I- thank you.” Alex croaked quietly, still not tearing his eyes away from the menorah. “I, uhm. I have to go to the bathroom, I think I got some of Laf’s stupid tinsel in my eye or something.” Alex backtracked out of the room quickly.

 

The three men remaining in the kitchen shared a broad smile, not commenting on the quick departure, instead letting the cheerfullness of the holidays wash over them.

  
  


**~~~**

 

The apartment quickly began filling with the group soon after the arrival of John and Alex. The eldest and youngest Schuyler sister arrived together, weighed down with beautifully wrapped gifts in elegant silver paper. Angelica quickly detoured into the kitchen, claiming she needed a “stiff drink” as “my  _ fucking  _ professor chose to post the exam grades  _ tonight _ .” Never one to shy from drinking, Thomas Jefferson, who had arrived right after the sisters, followed eagerly to “give Angelica moral support”.

 

James and Peggy were talking in the living room, Peggy worrying aloud that James looked a little ill, and James reassuring her that he was fine.

 

“It’s just having to put up with Thomas, is all. He’s terrible for my complexion.” James had joked, earning a snort from Peggy. As she was about to respond, a knock pounded on the door. George swooped in to answer from seemingly nowhere, always the proper southern host.

 

“Eliza, welcome! Hello again, Maria!” He greeted the ladies, ushering them in from the chilly hallway.

 As he was about to shut the door, he heard a “Wait!”, and Aaron jogged up the stairs to the apartment’s floor and slipped in quickly. 

“Why hello there, Mr. Burr, sir!” George joked at the heavily-breathing man, who had sprinted to escape from the freezing weather and the startings of hail.

 

“Hello, George.” Aaron panted in between breaths. 

 

“Damn, Burr, you’re out of shape, huh?” Hercules laughed, coming into the small foyer. 

 

“Hello Hercules.” Aaron greeted dryly. Hercules just laughed in response, offering to take Aaron’s gifts from him and put them under the (now very crowded) tree. Aaron gave him the presents gratefully before slipping out of his heavy coat, hanging it on the hooks near the front door.

 

**~~~**

 

“Everyone, get your booties in here!” Peggy called excitedly, directing her loud voice to the main portion of the apartment. “It’s tiiimmmeee!” She sang excitedly. Slowly the group started shuffling in from their various placements around the apartment.

 

The friends crowded together in the room, not having dispersed onto the couches yet, awaiting instructions from the eldest Schuyler. 

 

Taking a long sip from her drink before speaking, Angelica centered herself in the room. “Ok! Now that I’m ready to start this-” Angelica began, her voice shushing the group who had been carrying on their conversations still.

 

“You mean now that you’re tipsy.” Alex interjected, a smirk painted clearly on his features. 

 

Angelica fixed him with a stare before continuing. “Now that I’m  _ ready  _ to start, I think we should go around and pass out the gifts one at a time, and then when that person opens their gifts, we can all guess who gave it to them. _Capice_?” 

 

“Yes ma’am!” 

“ _Oui_.”

“Yeah, Angie.”

“Come on!”

“Let’s get turnt for Jesus!”

“Capice!”

  
  


The group quickly finished piling into the room, filling up the open furniture and floors quickly, eager to begin the gift exchange.

 

“OK-” Angelica crouched down to the base of the, examining the gifts, that were wrapped with varying levels of expertise. Extracting two boxes both addressed to “ _ Jefferson. _ ” in scrawling penmanship. She passed the gifts along the chain of people until they reached the large-haired man. Everyone watched excitedly, to see the start to their culmination of hard work over the past month.

 

Thomas began unwrapping one of the gifts delicately, as if to attempt to save the wrapping paper.

 

“Oh my _god_ , Jefferson, how are you making unwrapping _a present_ infuriating? Just tear into the damn thing.” Alex groaned after thirty seconds of deliberately slow movements.

 

“I’ll have you know, Alexander, that I am merely trying to respect the person who gave me this, and the effort that was made to wrap this, as any good southern gentleman would do. Furthermore-”

 

“Oh my god, Thommy, just unwrap it. Please.” James interjected, not wanting the evening to sour so soon with the characteristic squabbling.

 

“Fine.” Thomas finished tearing the rest of the paper off, going silent as he saw what lay inside the wrapping.

 

“What is it Thomas?” Asked Lafayette from across the room, straining his neck to see.

 

Thomas let an enormous smile grace his features as he held up the large cook book, entitled “ _ 500 of the Best Mac and Cheese Recipes (for the Connoisseur) _ ”.

 

“Whoever gave this to you is trying to give me diabetes.” Laughed James, happy to see his boyfriend so pleased. 

 

“Oh my god, we’re totally reinstating Macaroni Mondays.” Thomas said excitedly, flipping the book back over, ignoring the snickers going around the group. He began leafing through the book, captivated.

 

“Jefferson, I think there’s another one to you.” Alex said after a moment, pointing at the other wrapped box.

 

“Hmm? Oh- right. Thanks, Hamilton.” Thomas said, reluctantly setting down the book. He began to unwrap the next present, and when he got the lid to the box off, Jame bent over in laughter upon viewing the contents. 

 

“What is it?” Asked Eliza.

 

Thomas threw her the pillow, a wiry smile on his face as he picked the book back up, returning to it eagerly.

 

“Oh my god, it’s  _ you _ as a  _ pillow _ .” Guffawed Hercules upon seeing it. The group passed around the magenta monstrosity as they all shared a good laugh, the high spirits capturing the group.

 

“So, who do you think gave you those?” Prompted Peggy, once the excited energy in the room subsided some. 

 

“Lafayette, perhaps? He truly understands how sophisticated  _ Macaroni et fromage _ is.” Thomas looked at Laf questioningly, who only shook his head.

 

“Who was it? Show yourself!” Laughed Peggy, wanting to know who pegged Thomas so well.

 

“Whoever it was does know you quiet well, Thommy.” Said James, leafing through the cookbook.

 

“Well- who was it?” Asked Jefferson.

 

Alexander raised his hand, for once choosing not to speak. The group erupted in noise at the movement. 

 

_ “Alex?!” _

“How?”

  
“Those were actually good gifts!”

 

“You didn’t give him, like, Debating for Dummies?”

 

Various other exclamations of surprise rang out from the group, the room-wide shock palpable at the fact Alex could manage to give Thomas not only  _ real  _ gifts, but ones he clearly liked.

 

“Thank you, Alexander. These are very kind.” Thomas spoke diplomatically, but the smile gracing his features gave way to his true feelings of happiness.

 

“You’re welcome, Jefferson. Just, uh, do one thing?”

 

“Yes?” Asked Thomas apprehensively.

 

“Try not to kill James with the mac and cheese.” Alex joked, trying to alleviate to tone of shock still lingering over the group. James smiled gratefully at Alex’s joke as the group laughed and Thomas rolled his eyes.

 

“Okeydoke- let’s move on!” Eliza said happily, motioning for Angelica to pick out another gift from the tree.

 

Angelica picked up a dark blue bag embellished with silver snowflakes and a matching color of tissue paper exploding from the top. “ _ To: Aaron, with love From: Santa! (Ho Ho Ho!)”  _ Was written elegantly on the name tag, in perfect cursive. Angelica leaned over to Aaron and handed it directly to him, before deciding to just station herself in front of the tree, taking a seat on the floor.

 

“Thank you, Angelica.” Aaron smiled at her, accepting the gift eagerly. He read the name tag, smiling even bigger upon reading the sweet inscription. 

 

He waited a few more seconds, just staring at the careful script and mulling over his feelings of happiness to have found this rag-tag family until a groaned “Burr,  _ what  _ are you  _ waiting for?! _ ” From John pulled him out of his reverie.

 

“Sorry.” He smiled, starting to take out the pieces of perfectly fluffed tissue paper, before extracting the main component of the gift, also wrapped in the colored tissue. He set the bag on the floor before tearing into the circular object. 

 

“Oh wow.” A hushed exclamation came from beside him as Angelica saw the beautifully made cross stitch, the intricate patterns immediately letting her know who made the gift.

 

Burr felt his eyes well up slightly as the phrase his mother had told him all his life stared back at him in a shining violet, the flowers of the same name stitched around the words, another link to his mother. The group had fallen into a hush, all straining to see the gift from their seats, but not wanting to disrupt the moment.

 

“The violets are the birth flowers for February, since both of your birthdays are then.” Eliza broke the silence quietly, claiming the gift indirectly in her explanation.

 

Burr looked up to her, clearing his throat. “Thank you, Elizabeth. This uh- this means the world to me, to be able to have this memory of her. Sometimes I wish she could tell me this, when it’s needed to be heard. Now I can read it when I need the reminder.”

 

“Of course, Aaron. I know it means a lot to you. I’m glad you love it.” Eliza spoke, affection lacing her words for the man who was still visibly emotional. He smiled in response, clearing his throat again, wanting the gift exchange to continue. He was uncomfortable with being the center of attention- that was more Alex’s area of expertise. 

 

“Here, Herc, how about you go now.” Angelica delicately tossed him the wrapped box, which he expertly caught from his place on the couch beside John.

 

Tearing into the packaging unceremoniously, he tore open the cardboard box as well. On top was a framed piece of typography, the beautifully printed words in varying colors of blue stating “KATYA WAS ROBBED”, with a lipstick-ed kiss mark in the lower left corner. Hercules immediately thought of the night he and Peggy finished the All Stars season of  _ Drag Race _ , culminating in Hercules angrily stating the framed phrase in his hands. Hercules busted out laughing, looking around the room until his eyes fell on Peggy. 

 

“That’s actually her kiss-mark. She made like 500 of those bad-boys.” Peggy smiled innocently at the still-guffawing large man. He shook his head good-naturedly,  passing the frame to Alex and John to look at, before returning to the box.

 

He extracted next a dark purple shirt, his cartoon counterpart smiling up at him, with the iconic saying “ _ More like HUNKules”  _ emblazoned underneath. He beamed at Peggy, immediately standing to take of his current shirt (earning a few whistles from Lafayette and John, and an intense blush and averted gaze from Peggy) and tug on the snugger-fitting Disney one. 

 

“Someone call IX-I-I!” Shouted John, laughing as Hercules flexed to match the on-shirt counterpart. 

 

Herc looked up, upon hearing Peggy’s laugh join the others in the group. He shot her a toothy grin, thanking her. She smiled and told him “Any time,  _ Hunk _ ules.” A soft blush still staining her cheeks. 

 

Hercules totally ignored the feeling in his stomach when Peggy indirectly called him a “hunk”.

 

“Next!” Said Lafayette excitedly, motioning for Angelica to continue.

 

“Of course, dearest Marquis.” She said, rolling her eyes as she shuffled through the gifts. “Here, George, you may have to come over here to open this. It’s kinda big.”

 

George tapped Laf’s thigh, signalling he needed his boyfriend to get off of his lap so he could follow Angelica’s orders. 

 

John squirmed slightly in his seat, earning a tap on the thigh carrying a different meaning from Alex.  _ He’ll love it, John.  _ Alex sent him the reassurance through the subtle physicality.

 

George began to unwrap the large gift, going still as he saw a part of the painted canvas, then tearing the rest of the paper off in one fell swoop.

 

“Thank you, whoever this was. Thank you.” He spun the canvas around carefully to show the rest of the group the immaculate recreation of Mount Vernon.

 

“It was me, George.” John said softly, raising his hand half-way, as if he was in class and fessing up to a wrong answer.

 

“Holy- John, did you  _ paint  _ that?” Aaron asked astonished- he knew John had experience in art, but wasn’t sure how far his talents went.

 

John’s face turned a dark red underneath his freckles. Alex chose to respond for him. “Hell yeah he did. His hands are  _ very _ talented.” 

John’s face grew even darker still- of course leave it to Alex to somehow compliment him  _ and  _ embarrass him with an innuendo in a single sentence. Oh, that man’s power with words.

**~~~**

After the lengthy discussion on the groups’ astonishment to John’s artistic capabilities, James was next in line to unwrap a gift. 

 

He was so excited by the oil diffuser he began to cough, Jefferson tapping his back roughly as if to dislodge a choked-on piece of food. 

 

“Sorry- guess that’s further proof how much I need this!” James laughed, turning the few bottles of oils around in his hands and reaching into the box for their information sheets.

 

“You’re welcome, James. I do hope it serves its purpose.” George spoke up, claiming the thoughtful gift.

 

“Me too- maybe he won’t keep me up half the night coughing now.” Thomas smiled angelically, as if the expression would offset the words.

 

“Hey now, James puts up with you keeping him awake half the night. The radiation from the proximity to your horrible attitude alone is enough to deprive a man of sleep.” Alex interjected, wanting to annoy Jefferson.

 

“At least my boyfriend loves me enough to actually share an apartment; don’t hate me because  _ yours _ can’t stand your insufferable personality for more than one day at a time.” Thomas shot back, raring to go. They hadn’t had much time to work on their normal banter, with them being out of classes due to break. 

 

“Oh, please, Jefferson. At least my boyfriend doesn’t have to-”

 

“Stop it!” Yelled John and James in unison, shushing their respective partners. They shared an exasperated look with each other; one of recognition and understanding, as if to say  _ you deal with this too? _

 

“Are you two done?” Asked Eliza haughtily, holding onto Maria’s hand tighter in her frustration. “ _ Honestly _ , we are all gathered to have a nice celebration and you two decide to start arguing?! It’s  _ Christmas.  _ You need to let us enjoy our time together! We all love one another, and for god sake, Alex you even bought Thomas a nice and thoughtful gift! You  _ obviously  _ don’t hate each other. Now, shut up, be nice, and let the  _ adults _ carry on with our evening!”

 

“Yes ma’am.”

“Sorry Eliza.”

The response came in unison, both in the same dejected tone, coming from the thoroughly berated looking men. 

 

“As a reward for that one, why don’t we let Eliza open hers?” Laughed Hercules, directing his question to Angelica.

 

“Sure thing, Hunkules.” Angelica smiled at him, grabbing the large bag from under the tree. Eliza looked shocked, recognizing the bag that Maria had carried in. She looked over at her girlfriend in confusion, who pointedly looked away, pretending to see something across the room that caught her attention.

 

“Here, Liz.” Angelica said, handing the large gift to her younger sister.

 

“Thanks Angie.” She quickly disposed of the tissue paper, pulling out one of the items in the bag. It was a small scrubs top with pictures of Tweety Bird gracing the fabric. “Oh, ‘Ria!” Eliza exclaimed happily, looking at all the cartoons up close.

 

“I know you’ll need them for your job in the future, obivously, but your pediatrics rotation is coming up soon and I wanted you to have at least one kid-friendly scrubs top before you started.” Maria smiled at her, the red lipstick making her teeth shine.

 

Eliza grinned at her, moving to say something before Maria motioned for her to continue.  Reaching back into the bag and pulling out a rather large frame, Eliza studied the beautiful collage of the two women, obviously made with love and quite a bit of effort. Photos from not only their friendship but their semi-recent relationship adorned the collage, with cut-out quotes and other sentimental add-ons. Eliza looked up after studying the gift, leaning forward to give Maria a quick peck on the lips- it could’ve gone for longer, but their friends decided to let their presence be know at that moment. “ _ Aww _ ”’s and “ _ Oooh _ ”’s, and at least one wolf whistle (no doubt from Hercules) surrounded them, resulting in Eliza pulling back very red in the face, as well as leaving a very smug (yet still embarrassed) Maria.

 

“Oh, shush you guys.” Giggled Eliza, setting the gift down on the floor next to her. “Ugh- Ang, can we please start again?” She asked, the blush still prevalent on her cheeks.

 

“‘Course, Liz.” Smirked Angelica. “Oh! This one is to me!” She proclaimed excitedly, sliding the two-tiered present out from under the tree. 

 

Unwrapping the top gift happily, she yelled triumphantly as she clutched the small bottle of tequila.

 

“Whoever pulled Angie knows her oh so well.” Joked Peggy, earning a few chuckles.

 

“She’s a hard one to buy for, our Angie.” Laughed Eliza, joining in on poking fun at her elder sister.

 

In lieu of a response Angelica opened the next gift, yelling in an even more excited manner upon registering what the gift was.

 

“What is that, Angelica?” Asked John, confused by the box.

 

“They’re Himalayan salt shot glasses!” 

 

“They’re- sorry, _what_?”

 

“Shot glasses made from Himalayan salt.” James explained as Angelica was busy pouring a shot, combing her two gifts. She walked over to James and offered him the shot, a smile on her lips.

 

“Thanks, Madison. I love it!”

 

Instead of his typical response of “Anytime.” he downed the shot, grimacing at the taste of the rough tequila. His reaction earned a chuckle from Thomas. Angelica let the group pass around the glasses for inspection, as they had never seen such unique shot glasses before. As they were going through and looking, she finished fishing out the rest of the gifts from under the tree, lining them up in front of her for easier access.

 

**~~~**

 

Once a few more “Inaugural Shots” were taken using her gifts, Angelica instructed the group to settle back down as it was time to finish the gift exchanges.

 

“Alex, it’s your turn.” Angelica smiled at him as she passed over the heavy box. Alex took a slightly-slower than normal amount of time unwrapping it, and when he did and saw what was inside he just silently set the box in John’s lap and got up to hug Lafayette.

__   
_ "Merci beaucoup Lafayette, cela signifie le monde pour moi, que tu te souviennes et que tu t'en soucies." _ Aex said as he pulled away from his friend. He slipped into their shared native tongue, as though he loved his group of friends, he wanted this moment that held a deeper meaning to be between just them.   
  
_ "Bien sûr Alex, je vous vois comme mon meilleur ami et frère d'honneur. Je vais toujours prendre soin de vous de la façon que je peux. J'espère que c'est ok Je vous ai donné ces même si vous avez dit que vous étiez heureux avec les autres."  _ Laf spoke back to him, reverting to French with the ease of his breathing. He knew the deeper meaning that the soaps held for Alex, and wanted him to know he would always be there for him.   
  
_ “Je t'aime, Laf.” _ __   
_   
_ __ “Et moi, lion.”

 

Alex returned back to his seat, pointedly ignoring the bewildered looks the rest of the group directed to him, as during the heart-felt exchange they discovered it was just scented soaps. He also made a point not to look at the confused look Thomas was sending him- Alex had forgotten Jefferdick knew French. Alex really had rather he not have been privy to the conversation, but it wasn’t like he knew the prior context that made the gift so meaningful. He would let this one slide for now, and hopefully Thomas just forgot all about it.

 

“Alrighty then; Uh, Laf, you can go next.” Angelica passed along the wrapped gift, surpassing the confusion in the air from the emotional French exchange that had just occurred. 

 

Wasting no time Lafayette tore into the package, yelling in excitement as he lifted the garment out of the box. “Hercules!  _ Oh mon Dieu!  _ Was this you? Did you make this?!” Lafayette had jumped up and already pulled on the beautiful silk garment. It tastefully showed his extreme national pride, and was just sophisticated enough to play into his cultivated fashionista side.

 

“Damn, Herc, that’s bad ass!” complimented Laurens, with several other heads nodding in agreement.

 

“ _ Oui _ , it is indeed bad ass. Thank you Hercules!”

 

“You’re welcome Laf- I figured, why not show how much of a baguette you are when you’re just lounging too?” He joked.

 

The group laughed as Lafayette modeled it quickly with a few poses, Jefferson looking on almost as if he was jealous of the  _ very _   French robe.

 

**~~~**

 

After the group had taken a snack break (as certain members had been getting restless) they returned much calmer to the living room.

 

“Oh my  _ Freud _ !” Peggy beamed as she lifted up the “ _ Pink Freud” _ shirt to show the group, which earned quite a few laughs. “This is awesome- my two favorite ‘P’ words! Psychology and Puns!” Giggled Peggy, as she set aside the shirt, intending to put in on momentarily. She reached into the bag and pulled out a nice and soft Columbia scarf that she squealed at, wrapping it around her neck. “Who gave these to me?” She asked the group.

 

“That would be me, Margarita.” Aaron waved at her.

 

“Thank you so much Aaron! These are absoulutley perfect!” she smiled.

 

“I can’t take all the credit, this really nice and funny sales girl helped me a lot.”

 

“ _Ooh_ \- Burr, you got yourself a gal?” Asked John, wiggling his eyebrows comically.

 

“Well, no not exactly-”

 

“Did you at least get her number?” Interjected Jefferson, curious as well.

 

“Well, _yes_ , but-”

 

“Woo! Burr, look at you man. See what happens when you don’t just wait around for someone to make the move first?” Alex asked happily, glad for Aaron. Instead of explaining the more... _ complicated _ part of the whole ordeal, Aaron just smiled.

 

“You’re just always right, Hamilton.” Aaron joked.

 

“Alas, I admit it.”

 

**~~~**

 

“Maria, would you like to go now?” Angelica spoke over the conversation, wanting to draw the girl into the group. Even though she had been coming over much more frequently lately, it was obvious she still felt as more of an outsider to the group still. Angelica figured if Maria opened her gift while some of the men were preoccupied and the group’s attention wasn’t solely on her she’d be more comfortable.

 

“Sure, Angelica, thank you.” Maria smiled as she accepted the gift, as the discussion over the conversation about Burr’s dating life continued to float around her.

 

Unwrapping the gift her hands met a thick fabric, and she pulled out a nice and warm cable knit sweater, obviously a few sizes too big, just as she liked them. She smiled as a few smaller objects tumbled into her lap when she unfurled the soft sweater. There was two charcoal face masks, a cherry red nail polish, and another face mask that looked like it was made from cucumbers. 

 

“Hey- who gave Maria her gift?” Angelica interjected into the conversation, having no problem speaking up for Maria.

 

“I did!” Smiled Thomas, looking over at the woman in question.

 

“Thank you so much, Thomas- I really appreciate it.”

 

“I noticed you always look cold and you love red, so I thought it’d be a good fit.” He explained. She smiled and nodded. "Oh! And those charcoal masks? The work  _wonders._ For real!"

 

“It’s perfect- thank you again so much.” She looked closer at the masks, reading the instructions, not noticing a beaming Eliza sharing a big thumbs-up over her shoulder with Thomas.

 

**~~~**

“Yo, Laurens! Here’s the last one! It’s from me.” Angelica tossed him a box which he caught expertly mid-air.

 

“Thanks Ang!” He smiled as he began to unwrap the gift. Alex put his head onto John’s shoulder, letting his eyes drift shut for a second. The gift exchange had been going on for quite awhile and he had been getting sleepy. Alex could feel the edges of sleep begininng to perforate his mind when he was jolted back awake by the shaking of John’s shoulders and the rumbling laughs around him. Shooting back up, a shirt was thrust into his chest. Reading the shirt “ _ If lost, return to John.”  _ He looked up curiously at John, who, much to the pleasure of the group, was holding up a matching shirt that read “ _ I am John.” _

 

“Angelica these are  _ perfect. _ Thank you- Like, seriously Angelica. These are so good.” 

 

“They do seem to be quite fitting for y’all’s dynamic.” Laughed George in agreeance. 

 

“Here Johny boy, this is also for you.” Angelica tossed the small gift bag as well, which hit Alex in the face rather than the designated target of John’s hand. The room erupted into laughter at the expense of their dear friend who was now trying to cover the light from the room with the new shirt he had been given.

 

John unwrapped a very sweet looking turtle, his heart melting at the large eyes that stared back at him. “Oh, Angelica I love him! _Oh_ \- I’ll name him Alexander.” He smiled as he pet the top of the plush toy. Alex peeked out from under his shirt at the mention of his moniker, smiling when he saw John clutching a very cute turtle.

 

“Oh my god, Angie you were so right!” Laughed Peggy, sharing a look with her eldest sister.

 

“Huh?” asked John in confusion.

 

“I said you would probably end up naming that damn thing Alex or something.” Angelica explained, laughing with the group upon hearing the reasoning behind Peggy’s infectious giggling. 

 

“Ugh, you two are so gross.” Commented Jefferson, holding James’ hand.

 

“Oh  _ please _ , you two are no better and you know it Jefferson.” spat back Alex, whose face was still completely under the shirt.

 

**~~~**

 

“Good Christmas everyone- and thank you all so much for being a part of our family here, and for always supporting one another. I love you all so much and am so thankful for you all. Merry Christmas!” Eliza gave a heartfelt toast as the friends clinked the small amounts of champagne that was left.

 

“Thank you all so much.” Said Alexander simply, hoping for the first time that less words were actually more.

 

“I love y’all.”

“Ditto.”

“Love you guys.”

“God bless America!”

“Merry Christmas!”

  
“Happy Hanukkah!”

_ “Joyeux Noël! _ ”

  
“And to all a good night!” Laughed Hercules, joining in on the last clinking of glasses.

 

**~~~**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed this! :D :D If you have any comments or feedback, I'd love to hear it! Or if you have any prompts you'd like for related oneshots to this, I'm starting on those next! (I already have a few in the works/planned out ;D )   
> I'll probably update this fic once more to let everyone know when the first related work is out, and make this into a series. Thank you all again so so much, love you! <3 :D :D


	11. UPDATE! :)

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Hey guys! I just wanted to let all of y'all know that I've officially started the related fics to AVMSS! I've started a series so you can click through them. The first is a John/Alex fluff piece, where Alex's uses Laf's gifts to him. If you guys have any prompt ideas that I should write that's related to this, I'd love to hear them! Thank you again to all the amazing readers who supported this fic by reading, kudo'ing, and commenting all throughout <3\. Love y'all, and hope I'll see you guys on some of the related fics! :D :D

 

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